AURA
by Crossover King 46
Summary: What if nobody knew that the Kyuubi was sealed instead of killed? What if the Yondaime had entrusted the fate of his kid fate to a chuunin that nobody really cares about? What if... Naruto was unknown?
1. Chapter 1: Legacy

**AURA  
by Random Writer 46  
****  
**

**---**

"You want me to do what, Hokage-sama?" Yamato Akira asked his liege, incredulously. He wasn't sure if he had heard right. The blonde man in front of him only clicked his tongue and tried not to sigh. He rolled his sky-blue eyes and tried to massage away the headache that he could feel was coming up.

"I think you heard me, Akira," said the Yondaime. It was the night before the battle. The Kyuubi was advancing on the Hidden Village of the Leaf, and soon it would be there. It was at this crucial time of battle that every single ninja, genin to jounin, teachers to ANBU, were prepared to lay down their lives to protect their village. But what the Yondaime had just said... It completely went against Akira's ideals! There was nop way a Hokage, the leader of their village, would be saying something like this, but he was.

"S-Sir, you're asking me to stay back while all my comrades and friends go out and risk their lives!" Akira said. "I can't just do that! They're depending on me to be there! How can I face them if I remain safe and arm behind our lines while they die fighting?"

"Listen to me, Akira," said the Yondaime. "You're the only one I can entrust with this task, and it requires you to be alive."

Akira's eyes turned sharply towards the bundle of blankets that the youngest Hokage ever held. It squirmed around a little bit, and a baby face poked out, obviously asleep. His tufts of blonde hair poked out, marking his heritage as being one of the greatest ever. Akira couldn't help but feel calm as he watched the baby roll around in his sleep.

"But, my lord, why me?" Akira asked. "There's plenty more people that you can entrust this task to. I'm neither your best soldier nor the best man to raise a child. I'm nothing special. How about Saotome Haruka? She's pretty good with children and she would really like a kid to look after, or maybe your apprentice, Kakashi-san. He can keep him safe!"

Yondaime sighed.

"You might think that's true, Akira." The Yondaime said. "But it's not. No... I'm asking you to leave Konoha tomorrow night." He gestured towards the bundle of blankets, "...He can't be surrounded by this village as he's growing up. Do you know what they'd do to somebody like him? A poor child, chosen from many to be the container of a demon who's power can't be measured in shinobi terms. There are those who would see him as a monster, and others that would see him as a potential weapon. Anybody that knows about his power and his status wouldn't even get close to him... No. What he needs is a peaceful existence, like any other child."

The Yondaime sighed again.

"I can't give him that, I'm afraid." The blonde Hokage said. "Either way, I'll be dead tomorrow night. I haven't even told Sarutobi about my plan yet... What I want is for nobody to know that the Kyuubi isn't dead. When I fall, right after the sealing, I want you to fake your death and take him somewhere to grow up."

He produced a few scrolls out of his robes and handed them to Akira, who looked at them, confused.

"Sir... what..."

"These are scrolls containing my family techniques. When he reaches the age of seven I want you to start giving them to him on his birthdays. There are five scrolls in total, which will last until he's twelve, of enough age to take the Academy exam." The Yondaime said. "These scrolls will make sure that our family's Bloodline and fighting style will never be lost... Now, here's what you should do tomorrow night when I fall..."

Akira listened to him, reluctantly but understanding the sacrifice that the young man in front of him, four years his junior, was making for his village. The blonde ninja went on to explain what he expected of his son, and everything that he wanted Akira to teach him. His heritage could wait until he becomes chuunin, and the scrolls were to be said to come from a family friend. At the end of the explanation, Akira's head was swimming.

"...and that should be about it. Any questions?" The Yondaime asked.

"No, sir. But, maybe I should be writing this down... I might forget it later..."

"No need for that, I've already written it down in a scroll. Here it is." The blonde Hokage rummaged around in his robes for a few seconds before taking out a sky-blue scroll. The wax seal that closed it was made in the image of an Uzumaki spiral. "And once again, thank you. I know this must be asking quite a lot out of you, but please consider this a dying man's request."

Akira was touched.

"No worries, sir." The brown-haired chuunin said. "I swear on my mother's grave that I'll raise him up to be a shinobi worthy of your name! The Uzumaki name will live on, especially inside him!"

The Yondaime paused for a second, before bursting into a wide smile.

"Nothing less than I expected from you, Akira. Thanks."

---

But the night before the battle, something had gone wrong. The Kyuubi had attacked too early, scattering the ninjas that were assigned to defense. Many shinobi gave their lives in battle to prevent the demon from approaching Konoha, paying the ultimate sacrifice for their glorious leader, the Yondaime, to ride into battle an hour after news of the first attack. Nobody knew exactly why he had taken so long, except for himself and Yamato Akira.

Within a few short minutes, the Kyuubi hit the ground, collapsing into dust. It's form crumbled, and the shinobi wondered what exactly had just happened.

---

Akira ran through the forest, to where the battle between the Kyuubi and the Yondaime had just taken place. He bounded and rebounded off trees, every few seconds taking looks behind him to see if there was anybody tracking him. It was probably one of his only specialties, the ability to sense if there was anyone tracking him.

He soon arrived at the clearing where the Kyuubi had fell, and the Yondaime had given his life. There were several large footprints... proof of Gamabunta's arrival and the desctruction of Kyuubi. The trees nearby were torn to pieces... and in the center of it all, was a prone form lying face down with a bundle of blankets clutched in his hand.

Akira fought back his tears and sank down beside his best friend. It was true that the Yondaime was a genius in his own right, but he hadn't been acknowledged much in his childhood days. In fact, he had been widely regarded as a trouble-maker and a good-for-nothing... Akira had been his first friend, when he had skipped three years in the ninja academy.

But there was no time for this... He had to respect his friend's last wishes. He gently moved the arms of the dead hero off the baby that he knew to be sleeping inside the blankets, and picked it up. The child had been awake the entire time, Akira realized. He was staring at him with an expression of sadness and dried tears running down his face, and Akira knew that even the boy had sensed the passing of his father.

On his belly was a spiral seal... One of the Yondaime's own inventions.

Suddenly he heard voices in the woods, and swore quietly. There seemed to be a lot of them, and soon they would be here. If they found him and the baby, they would demand to know what he was doing here, and then he would have no choice but to reveal the truth, therefore going against the wishes of a dead man. That wasn't something he could just do.

His hand started flipping through seals...

---

Akira appeared out of the ground several kilometres away from the dead body of the Yondaime. He silently thanked his jounin sensei for teaching him that move, and sat down on the ground to catch his breath. He knew that there was no way anybody would be able to track him now... He had already left a body double behind in the battlefield, and anybody who found the Yondaime would be too caught up in grief to realize that there had been a jutsu cast nearby that had nothing to do with the battle between the Kyuubi and the Yondaime.

The crying of an infant turned his attention, and he lifted the blankets, revealing a baby face. Its eyes were red and puffy with crying, and its entire face spoke of a drowsiness. Probably an after-effect of the seal. Silently, the baby reached out of his blankets with his arms, and Akira panciked. What was the baby trying to do?

His fears were unfounded as the baby's clumsy little hands closed around the necklace that the Fourth had given to him on his last birthday. It was a silver chain with a cross on the end. Simple but stylish. There were protection jutsus that were said to be cast upon the chain, and it would defend the wielder against bad luck. His thoughts suddenly turned back to the Yondaime.

There could be no words to describe the grief that suddenly came upon him. A few hours ago he had been telling him what to do after his death, but there was nothing that could defend him against this. His eyes prickled, and then the tears began. He hugged the baby close to him... the legacy of the Yondaime, his son. He didn't know who the wife was, only that she had died in childbirth a few days ago. It seemed that their relation, the Fourth and his wife, had been in secret and even their marriage. Anyway, it didn't really matter any more.

Then, those pudgy baby hands of his little charge wrapped around his neck, and he opened his eyes in surprise. The baby... the Yondaime's son... was crying with him. It was a sign of his intelligence that he would understand what was going on when he was only around five days old, but it didn't reach Akira at the moment. He wrapped his arms around the little bundle of blankets as well, and let the tears flow free.

They stood there for hours, Akira thinking of the happy memories that he had shared with the ramen-obsessed zero-gone-hero, and the baby eventually dropped off into slumber. Pretty soon the baby was deep in dreamland, and Akira opened the sky-blue scroll that the Yondaime had given him with one hand.

_The boy's name shall be Naruto._

And Akira smiled through his tears at his friend's idea of a joke.

---

A few weeks later Akira found himself in front a modest house in the country of Wave. The Yondaime had left behind a large amount of cash for him, and it was enough for him to settle down practically anywhere he wanted and keep both him and his charge alive for years without working. He wasn't sure if he should, actually. He really couldn't leave a baby alone in a household... especially not one as important as this one. Maybe once Naruto got older, but not right now.

He walked into the doorway, and put down the bag of supplies that he had bought from a merchant on the road. It was full of rations and food bits, though it was stuff that was more commonly suited to a ninja on a mission instead of actual food. He would need to buy some furniture and liven the place up a little bit, and some proper food as well.

He stared down into the bundle of blankets that took up a space in his arms, and smiled as he saw those blue eyes gaze into his own. There was no use crying for the Fourth now... He would be glad that his best friend had seen him as worthy to raise his legacy, and he would do him proud, make sure of that.

"Welcome to your new life... Uzumaki Naruto..."

---

The next few years passed by quickly. At age five, Akira started training Naruto in the ways of the shinobi. The boy had been hooked from the start when he saw his adopted father pull off a basic Katon jutsu. When Naruto had asked, in an awed childish voice, how he could do that, Akira just grinned and told him that it came with training.

A week later he had found the boy unconscious in the backyard of their house trying to beat a training dummy senseless.

He had never gone easy on the boy, though he wasn't strict as possible, per se. Every time the boy slacked off, which was almost never, he encouraged the boy. Soon, at the age of six, Naruto had the physical prowess of a genin. Akira himself had been amazed, though he chalked it off to the genes of his father. Afterwards, he felt that Naruto had enough training for the body and Taijutsu, and bought weights for him, telling him to change it up a notch every week.

Also at the age of six, Akira had begun to train his adopted son in the ways of stealth and deception. He had learnt from the Yondaime, who was best of the best when it came to deceptions and trickery, probably due to his younger days. One of the phrases that he kept closes to his heart was this: _"An idiot is a master of faking. A genius is a master of revealing."_

The phrase spoke for itself, and in the first lesson that he had with his son, he had already ingrained it deep within his mind. From then on Naruto took the words deep to heart, and began to wear bright colours almost constantly, though his favourite was, of course, orange. Within a year of his sixth birthday, even Akira, a chuunin-level shinobi, was starting to have trouble finding him whenever they played hide-and-seek in the forests behind their house. During this year, he had also started working with Naruto on his aim with ninja weapons, though he knew that the only way to get better with weapons was constant practice, and that's what Naruto did. Moving bullseyes became his specialty.

And at the age of seven, he gave the first of the scrolls that the Yondaime had given to him to the young ninja-to-be. Naruto studied it intently everyday, trying to learn the style written within. Although he had often asked Akira exactly where the scrolls came from, the chuunin never answered directly, always saying it came from a family friend. Naruto knew he was lying, as they lived a rather secluded life. Akira dedicated most of his time to teaching the boy, and Naruto spent most of his time training.

During that year, Akira had also started teaching Naruto the basics of chakra and ninjutsu. Naruto had taken to it like a fish to water, though he did have a bit of trouble with manipulation. He always pulled on too much constantly, though it really didn't matter much since his stamina was damn near limitless, as Akira had found. Pretty soon, right before his eighth birthday, he had mastered a few Katon jutsus, one Suiton jutsu, and one Dont jutsu for his elementals. He had also learnt Henge, Bunshin, and Kage Bunshin from his adoptive father.

Akira grinned as he remembered how he had learnt it from the Yondaime himself. The blonde Hokage had practically beat it into him. Akira knew he had always been a below-average ninja, though that didn't hamper the Fourth from never giving up on him. Every other day he called the chuunin to his tower, gave all his paperwork to the secretaries, and beat jutsu and training methods into his first friend. The Kage Bunshin was one of the techniques that he was lucky enough to learn this way.

On his eighth birthday, he gave Naruto the second scroll. He had seen the boy disappear for a few days, and had panicked at first. When Naruto came back from his week long training journey, he was given a talking to by Akira. When Naruto asked why he cared when he wasn't even his biological father, Akira had yelled at him for a few hours. At the end of it all, both Akira and Naruto cried, and they began to feel closer than even real family. After the emotional tearfest, Akira had forgotten to ask Naruto why he had disappeared anyway, and Naruto had forgotten to show off the new moves that he had learnt from the scrolls.

Needless to say, Akira was shocked next time they sparred when Naruto had pulled off one of his father's attacks out of what seemed like thin air.

After the scare, Akira started to teach the foxboy about the powers of Genjutsu. Though the legacy of the Fourth had complained at first, he soon took to studying the theories and memorizing the seals as late-night reading. Akira had already guessed, from the attitude of Yondaime towards Genjutsu, that Naruto would have difficulties, but the blonde had surprised him with his stubborn personality. Within six months Naruto had mastered a few simple Genjutsu, though that was still a great accomplishment. His favourite technique was probably the Kanashibari, and he often practiced it on Akira, who had developed an immunity to it after a particularly bad experience he had as a genin when he had been taken prisoner by enemy nins.

On Naruto's ninth birthday, Akira declared that he needed no further training from somebody who couldn't give him any proper advice, and bought him a load of jutsu scrolls, both Ninjutsu and Genjutsu but not Taijutsu. When Naruto had asked him about it, he just explained that he would understand why soon. And he did. It turned out that Yondaime's scroll that year focused on the Uzumaki clan's own style of Taijutsu, known simply as Hakkyokuseiken. And it was in this scroll that Naruto's heritage was explained. When Akira had explained about the Kyuubi and the deeds of his father, Naruto managed to find his dream.

The next day, a groggy Akira was woken by Naruto's battlecry.

_"I WILL BECOME HOKAGE!"_

Akira grinned, and went back to sleep, dreaming sweet dreams.

Shortly after Akira decided that Naruto had become old enough, and went to apply for a job. He managed to get a job working for a blacksmith. Pretty soon it went from a ay to make money to a hobby, and then a passion. Akira found it within himself a love for weapons, and decided to learn the ways of smithing, which would surely be helpful in the future.

And it was like this, year after year, until finally the time came to return to Konoha.

---

"Wow... so this is Konoha." Naruto said in awe as he stared. Akira only grinned as he saw Naruto's eyes widen. He was wearing a black shirt with baggy dark-brown pants and civilian sandals covered by a traveller's poncho, and there was a bit of stubble around his eternally unshaven chin. He was thirty-three, yet he looked not a day older than twenty-five. His young charge was wearing an unzipped thin orange vest, and orange shorts that reached down to his knees. Underneath the vest he wore a black shirt. He wore black fingerless gloves with a thin strip of steel that covered the back of the hand, and his ninja sandals were black.

"Yeah... The village of your birth. You scared?"

"C'mon, tousan. You know me better than that." Naruto said.

Akira grinned. "Yeah, I do."

Naruto looked around a few more seconds before turning to his adopted father.

"So, tousan, where do we go now?"

"Well... First thing's first. We've got to make you a Leaf-nin, right?" Akira said. "And to do that, we'd better meet with the Hokage then."

"The Hokage, huh..." Naruto rolled that around in his head. "So, who is it?"

"Dunno, since your dad passed... Well, it's got to be Sarutobi-sensei unless he's bit the dust. But then again he's a tough old coot, he's still got years left in him yet, the last time I saw him." Akira pondered. "Yeah, probably Sarutobi. Well, follow me then, and remember our cover story."

Naruto nodded.

They took to the rooftops, heading straight towards the tower.

"Why do we need a cover story anyway?" Naruto asked. "Wouldn't it be better to just tell the truth that I'm the Yondaime's son?"

"Well, that's quite a story there. Saying anything like that would lead to them finding out about your 'tenant', you know." Akira explained. "I grew up in this village, and I know all about it. The guys here have memories like you wouldn't believe. Tons of them still haven't recovered from the Kyuubi's attack, you know. They'll probably start blaming you about it, and I can tell you that you don't want to be on the brunt of their attacks. They could make your life here miserable."

"Oh... That sucks."

Akira chuckled.

"Well, aren't you thankful that your dad told me to grab you and get you to another country?"

"Yeah... Life would suck without you, tousan!"

---

"The Hokage will see you now."

Akira and Naruto stood up, brushing by the desk of the secretary before entering the Hokage's chambers. The first thing they saw was the desk of the Hokage, followed by the back of a chair. The chair swivelled around and, sitting before them, was the Sandaime. There was a pipe in his mouth, and a smile on his face.

"Please sit down."

The father-son pair sunk into the chairs that were set before them.

"Would you like some tea?" The Sandaime asked as he motioned to the tray in front of them.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." Akira said, and took a cup. Naruto shook his head.

They sat there in comfortable silence for a few seconds, as both the Sandaime and Akira sipped their tea. Naruto just looked around the office, bored. Pretty soon he had taken a few paperclips off the Hokage's desk and was messing around with them.

"Well then, what are strangers like you here for to see an old man like me?" The Sandaime asked, the ever-present smile on his face. Akira smiled, though it was rather strained. To be here in front of his sensei and not be able to tell him that it was Akira himself. It was harder than he had thought.

"Me and my son are travelling shinobi, Hokage-sama." Akira offered. "Well, we've come today to request that we join Konoha."

Sarutobi surveyed them with a critical, though welcoming eye.

"Well, I would always welcome new shinobi who want to join us, but there are safety regulations, you know. First, we have to make sure that you are who you say you are," explained the Sandaime. "Can you please produce some identification?"

Naruto stared at his tousan, and Akira just calmly retrieved two papers from his pocket, and passed it over to the Hokage. Sarutobit looked through it for a second or two before tidying it up and putting it in a pile right beside the mound of paperwork that stood on his desk.

"That seems to be in order." The Sandaime said. "You are Yaiba Todoh then, and your son... Yaiba Naruto?"

"That's right, Hokage-sama." Naruto said.

Sarutobi surveyed both of them for a second or two.

"Funny, you look nothing like him, if I may." The Sandaime said. "Adoption, I presume?"

"Ah, yes, Hokage-sama." Akira said cheerfully.

"Alright then." The Sandaime looked down at Naruto. "It says you're twelve here, aren't you? Well, we need proof that you can work as a shinobi and a Leaf-nin. Would you mind attending the ninja academy for a day today? They're holding the graduation exam, and it would help me to find out where you stand according to other genin."

"That's what I'm here for, Hokage-sama." Naruto said with a laugh. Sandaime smiled.

"Alright then, that's good. I'll send somebody to help you find the place..."

---

"Alright, everybody! Calm down, calm down!" Iruka called to the classroom. Mizuki stood beside him, leaning against the wall. The assistant couldn't be bothered this time of day, when the kids were coming in. They were always as loud as hell, and only Iruka had the power and technique of a teacher to make them calm down.

The students settled into their seats, and started talking with one another. Mizuki watched with an amused expression as Iruka repeatedly told Ino and Sakura to stop fighting each other for the seat beside Sasuke.

"Seems pretty calm today." Mizuki said with a cheerful laugh as Iruka regarded him with a tired eye. "I mean, it usually takes some more yelling before they settle down."

"That's true..." Iruka said. "It's probably just the idea of graduation."

Mizuki grinned as he stared at the crowd in front of him.

"Well, aren't you glad that you won't have to teach them anymore?"

"Ugh, with my luck, half of them will fail the genin exam..."

Mizuki chuckled, and Iruka groaned.

The door to the classroom suddenly opened, and there stood a chuunin looking uncomfortable and a young blonde wearing-- orange? --standing side by side. The chuunin walked forwards without a word and passed a slip of paper into Iruka's hands, before taking to the doorway and leaving. The blonde boy walked forwards and stood beside the teacher's desk.

_"Oh man, this is the first-day-of-class thing that dad keeps telling me about, isn't it?" _Naruto thought to himself. _"Well, hopefully I'll be able to make a good first impression! I just got here after all, and I don't really want anybody to hate me..."_

Iruka looked at the new kid with an interested glance, and Naruto grinned nervously up at him. The chuunin sighed in relief. This one didn't seem like a lot of trouble, and he would only have to deal with him for two non-class days. That, he could live with. He called for the room's atention, which wasn't really hard with half the eyes in the class on the new kid.

"Alright, everybody! This is Yaiba Naruto, he'll be joining us for for the graduation exam. Naruto, find a seat. Any seat is fine."

Naruto did just that. He walked up the ledges, past the fight between Ino and Sakura, and sat down right beside Sasuke, who regarded him, trying to judge his power. He gave a grin and a two-fingered salute towards the black-haired boy, and Sasuke turned away. Sakura and Ino gaped at what he had just done, and the rest of the boys in the class sniggered while the girls gave the newcomer dreamy eyes.

As Iruka talked on, Naruto kept trying to make conversation with Sasuke. Sakura had sat down beside Naruto reluctantly, though she observed that he was kind of cute.

"...And that's how the test will go. Please come in when your name is called."

Students went into the sideroom one by one, some of them came out laughing happily, some of them came out dancing with jubilation, some of them came out with no expression on their faces, and some bawling their eyes out. Naruto grinned as Kiba and Akamaru 'yahoo'ed while being tossed out by Iruka, Mizuki's cheerful laugh in the backgroudn the whole time.

"Yaiba, Naruto!"

Naruto walked down the ledges, and into the room at the side. A grinning Mizuki held it out for him, and explained the test as they went along the dark corridor. Naruto found the assistant teacher quite friendly, and struck up a conversation with him, debating what kind of situations kunai were better than shurikens and vice versa. At the end of the corridor they arrived in a large room. It seemed to be an obstacle course of some kind. Iruka was there, waving at him to come join him.

Naruto looked at Mizuki, and the smiling teacher assistant nudged him forwards. Naruto took the hint, and ran down to join his temporary sensei. Iruka looked at him over the clipboard that he held in his hands, and gestured to the obstacle course.

"Alright then. Try to make your way through that. No Ninjutsu, but everything else is fine." He looked at the boy to see if he understood, but by the time he was done the foxboy had already entered the course.

Iruka watched, amazed, as the boy flipped through the storms of shuriken and the spike traps that opened up underneath. He watched, fascinated, as Naruto reached the exit, not even panting slightly. The orange-clad shinobi-to-be walked out of the obstacle course with a grin.

"Hey, sensei, how did I do?" He asked grinning.

Iruka looked at the stopwatch, and scribbled it down in his clipboard.

"Thirty-three seconds... Wow." Iruka said, amazed. "Alright then, you pass the obstacle course. The next step is aim with a ninja weapon."

He walked towards another part of the room, where several targets stood. He pointed towards them, and Naruto caught the cue. The blonde foxboy flipped out several kunai, and swung them towards the target. Each hit was a bullseye. Next he took out several shuriken, and launched them towards another target. It was quickly shredded through the center.

Iruka watched the whole thing, surprised again.

"Very well done, Naruto-kun!" Iruka said happily. "Alright, next there's..."

Naruto grinned happily as Iruka led him off to another part of the room. There was something nice about being surrounded by people after so long of staying alone house of their's back in the country of Wave.

---

Naruto made his way back to his seat as Mizuki-sensei called Sasuke's name, and they passed each other on their way to their seperate destinations. As the dark-haired avenger passed by the orange-clad foxboy, he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head, and stared incredulously at Naruto. Most of the class was watching this by now.

"Hey, good luck!" Naruto said cheerfully, and took his hand off the last Uchiha's shoulder. He walked back to his seat as Sasuke stared at his back. He had never been approached by somebody just to be granted a casual remark like that. The dark-haired boy shook his head, and walked down the steps. As he descended he couldn't help but remember that flow of power that he felt when the boy had sat down beside him... Maybe there was something to this newcomer.

_"Hmph... He's not like the rest of the people in this room. He acts like a ninja, not a student. Strange how he arrives only on the last day of class, and knows everything that we worked for years to learn. He's... powerful." _Sasuke noted, and resolved to keep an eye on this guy.

Naruto made his way back up to his seat, and found Sakura talking with with a blonde girl that had taken it.

_"Oh man, my seat's been stolen... What should I do, what should I do..."_

Inwardly, he decided he didn't want to intrude, and walked further up, looking for an empty space until somebody yelled for him. He looked upwards, and was greeted with the visage of -- an eskimo? No, even though he did wear some kind of parka. Sitting beside him was a guy wearing shades and had a collar that reached up to his nose.

"Hey, over here!" He heard the eskimo guy shout, and happily complied. He pulled up a seat beside the two, and noticed that puppy that was lying down right beside the eskimo guy. "The name's Kiba!"

"Naruto here."

The puppy that had been lying down beside Kiba suddenly jumped on top of Naruto's lap, and started licking his face.

"Whoa, whoa! Good doggy, good doggy!" Naruto said, all the while enjoying the gently sensation.

**_"GOD, I HATE DOGS!"_**

Huh? Where had that come from?

By the time that Naruto had snapped back to reality, Kiba had the puppy on the table.

"Sorry bout' that, Akamaru's not usually that friendly to people that he doesn't know." Kiba said, but then he grinned. "But then that means you're probably a really good guy!"

Any further conversation was promptly cut off.


	2. Chapter 2: Under the Moon

**AURA  
by Random Writer 46  
****  
**

**---**

**Thanks for all the reviews, people! I didn't expect this fic to get so much attention so soon. Thanks to each one of you, though I haven't gotten around to sending all your replies just yet. Please stick by with me through the rest of this fic.**

**---**

**Chapter 2**

**--- **

"Alright then..." Iruka-sensei said as he surveyed the clipboard. "That's all, isn't it? Is there anybody whose name I didn't call?" 

Nobody replied, and Iruka smiled to himself. Another job well done.

Mizuki stood off to the side, looking at the clipboard over Iruka's shoulder. Contrary to what a lot of people thought, Mizuki loved his position as a teaching assistant. As far as he saw, being a jounin would suck with all the high-class missions with high risk of death, and being a teacher wouldn't be the greatest job in the world since he wasn't exactly the forceful type, and as such didn't have the ability to control a class. He was perfectly happy with his position in the world.

He looked at the students in front of him, mentally counting off the ones that had failed and the ones that had passed. There had been only a few failures, which was quite the good thing, though he knew that some of them would still be coming back after all since some jounins posed ridiculous tests for the newly graduated.

"Alright, then. Class dismissed." Iruka said, and most students got up out of their seats and started stretching. "Remember. Those who passed will come here tomorrow and get their teams sorted out, afterwards they can meet their jounin instructor."

Within a few minutes most of the students were gone with only a few lingering behind, of which included Kiba and Naruto. Kiba was trying to wake up a sleeping Akamaru, and Naruto was just watching in amusement.

Soon the puppy woke up, and Kiba lifted it up from the desk and onto his shoulder. He then turned around to Naruto.

"Hey, wanna come celebrate our graduation?" Kiba asked with a sharp grin. "There's a couple of my buddy's that you might wanna meet, since you're probably going to be stuck on a team with some of us. Might help you with teamwork and stuff, you know."

Naruto thought about this for a second. _Well, why not? And this is a chance to make some friends... And I can count the number of friends that I have on one hand, actually no, maybe less. And it's free food!_

"Oh, by the way, we're going to someplace called Ichiraku... I heard they sell the best ramen there around."

That sealed the deal right there.

---

"So... Where you from, Naruto?" Kiba asked, curious.

They were walking down a street of Konoha, towards Ichiraku. Neither of them felt much like taking to the rooftops, and just enjoyed each other's company as they made their way towards the ramen stand. Akamaru was snoozing on Kiba's shoulder, and the eskimo boy had pulled the hood of his parka down.

"Well... My dad and I are travelling shinobi." Naruto explained, sticking to his cover story. "Yeah, but we were getting pretty tired of living by ourselves and scrounging for cash, so we decided to join a larger shinobi community, see. Konoha just happened to the closest one at the time."

Kiba nodded.

"So, how about your mom?"

"My mom? Well, I don't know really. I was adopted by my dad when I was a kid so I can't remember anything about my real parents. All I know is that my dad is a shinobi of the highest rank in Konoha, and... that's about it." It was a half-lie, not exactly the truth but not exactly false either.

"Oh, sorry." Kiba said.

"No worries. No point in worrying about the past, right? Anyway, you've asked me enough questions about myself, I wanna hear something out of you."

Kiba looked genuinely surprised to see somebody paying attention to him.

"Well, uh, what's there to tell?"

"I don't know... your family, techniques you use, hobbies?"

Kiba thought about this for a few seconds.

"I come from the Inuzuka clan... I guess you could say we specialize in beast-human jutsus, and rely on our dogs as ninja tools, though that's not really a bloodline. Just more of a family specialization kind of thing..."

They conversed with each other for a while. Naruto was glad for the companionship that his new friend was showing. To tell the truth, he had never really had a friend before except for his dad, and this feeling was something that he never wanted to end. It was a sense of camaraderie, a sense of worth, a sense of... belonging.

---

"Alright, here we are." Inuzuka Kiba said as he pushed aside the blinds that covered the doorway. "Hey, yo!"

In front of them sat several other people from the class. Naruto mentally noted the people that were here. There was Sakura and the other blonde girl that had been fighting with her, and now they were all buddy buddy. It was kind of wierd. There was no Sasuke to be seen, and several other new graduates turned around to see the newcomers.

"Kiba." The guy with the collar and the sunglasses acknowledged. It was the same guy from before that had been sitting on Kiba's side.

"Yo, Shino," replied Kiba, and sat down beside him. He waved at Naruto to follow, and Naruto complied. "This is my new buddy, Naruto. He and his dad just joined Konoha, so they probably have tons of techniques that we've never seen before!"

Naruto felt Shino look at him for a second or two, before he spoke.

"Aburame Shino, pleased to make your acquaintance."

He put a hand in front of him, and Naruto accepted it, giving him a hearty handshake.

"Yaiba Naruto, same here."

Suddenly, he felt pinpricks poking into his skin, and withdrew his hand, looking at it strangely. There, in the center of his palm, was a bug of some sort that he had never seen before. It wriggled its feelers and hopped off his hand and into Shino's. When he looked at the silent boy with a questioning glance, Kiba felt prepared to answer for him.

"Yo, those are his family's specialties. Kikkai bugs. They let them live inside their bodies and feed them with their chakra, and in turn they have to listen to him when he orders them to do stuff." Kiba explained. "Don't be freaked out by those guys, you get used to them quickly enough."

"You have bugs living inside your body?" Naruto asked Shino, who nodded. "Wow, isn't that kind of weird?"

"No... Not really." The usually silent boy answered. "The Kikkai bugs were given to me at birth. You have no problem with them?"

Naruto shook his head.

"Nah, not really. Everybody's got their own ways, I respect that."

"Thank you."

"No prob."

It was then that Shino's order arrived in the form of a bowl of pork ramen. He took a pair of chopsticks from the container on the table, and silently broke them down the middle, and prepared to eat. Naruto noticed that several of Shino's Kikkai bugs had suddenly popped out of his skin and into the broth, as if they were feasting as well. Though it might've been disturbing to other people, Naruto wasn't bothered one bit by the sight.

"Hey, Ichiraku old man!" Kiba yelled. "I want a bowl of beef here and, uh..."

He looked at Naruto, who grinned and pointed at one of the items on the menu.

"...and a miso here!"

The old man replied with a hearty laugh and started making the orders. Within a few short minutes two bowls of ramen were sitting on the table in front of them, and both Kiba and Naruto dug in. Though Shino had started before either of them, it was Naruto that finished first, followed closely by Kiba, who gave a loud belch as he inhaled the rest of the broth.

"Man, that was some good stuff!" Kiba grinned, and reached for a tissue to wipe his mouth with. Naruto just sat back and laughed. Shino was already retrieving the bugs that had come out for the feast. "So, what do you wanna talk about?"

"Who, me?" Naruto asked.

"Well yeah, duh! Shino here's about as responsive as a wall."

Naruto looked at the silent boy, who just shrugged.

"Well... I don't know."

"Hey, why don't you tell us about your dad?" Kiba asked, curious.

Naruto was caught by surprise.

"My dad? Well... I heard he was raised by a family of ninja here in Konoha, but then he ran away when he was twelve because they were being really horrible... That was before he became a genin, so he couldn't be counted as missing-nin. He's what you could call a wander-nin, I guess. When he hit the road he began to hone his skills, and became pretty good at what he did. As for his level... I guess he's around upper chuunin?"

And they talked about a few things here, and a few things there for the rest of the time. Kiba introduced Naruto to the other graduates, and Naruto managed to befriend a few of them. There was laughing, jokes, and talking, but all good things come to an end, and before he knew it, Naruto was walking out of the ramen stand. There, in front of him stood Akira.

"You done, hmm?"

"Yeah, I had a good time." Naruto said, with a smile.

Akira looked at his adopted son, and returned the smile.

"Good, good. A kid your age should hang around kids like you, not spending all day with your crotchety old father."

Naruto sighed.

"Tousan, you're not that old."

"Oh, that's what you think, that's what you think..."

And with a hearty laugh, Akira took a running leap, and he was on the rooftops. Naruto followed a second later, not missing a beat as both flew into the air. The pale moonlight illuminated their features, and the cool night air was as calming as could be. Both had a sense of peace that neither had felt for a long long time, Akira since the last time he had been in this village, and Naruto since he was a baby before the sealing.

Konoha was home, and both shinobi could feel it deep within their hearts.

---

Naruto arrived the next day at the academy pretty early in the morning. Both Kiba and Shino were already there, and Kiba waved at him to come sit by him again. Naruto obliged, and jumped into the seat beside the dog-boy with an early-morning smile. They began to converse, and the other students began to arrive. Naruto could see soon who had passed the exams, and who hadn't. The class size had been effectively reduced by a third of what it was before, and now there was a lot more empty spaces.

Pretty soon all the graduates had arrived, and Iruka called for everybody to calm down. Mizuki suppressed a grin as he watched the young chuunin teacher practically hyperventilate at Sakura and Ino once again. Soon, everybody had settled down in their seats (with Sakura being in the closest seat available to Sasuke).

"Alright then!" Iruka-sensei roared. "Mizuki here will tell you which jounin instructors you'll be assigned to and your teams, when he calls your name please go the appropriate room. Remember, some jounins may be a little late, as many of them have important missions to accomplish."

Mizuki took his cue, and stepped up, looking through the list of names that made up the clipboard.

"Okay, Team 1. Kazama Heihachi, Kusanagi Kyo, and Ayanami Rei. Your jounin instructor is..."

Naruto tuned the rest of the thing out, and concentrated on his conversation with Kiba. At the moment they were talking about the best way to enhance a kunai with chakra. It seemed that chakra control was quite necessary in the Inuzuka family techniques, as inaccurate amounts of chakra could usually do harm to their partners instead of helping out, and thus Kiba had plenty of practice infusing chakra onto kunai. At the moment Akamaru was lying down on the table, napping once again.

"...Team 7... huh?"

Naruto looked up. Mizuki looked a little surprised before turning to Iruka, who then gave him a gesture to keep on reading.

"Oh, there seems to be a small change this year." Mizuki said. "With Naruto's arrival there seems to be an extra spot, so it's been decided that this year there's going be a four man team amongst you. Alright, Team 7. Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, and Yaiba Naruto! Your jounin-sensei is Hatake Kakashi, and you'll meet him down the hall in room 115."

Naruto and Kiba looked shocked, before grinning at eachother and patting themselves on the back. Shino did nothing, and just got up and started walking down the ledges. On the other side of the room a girl also got up from her sitting position, and Naruto realized with a shock, she had white eyes.

Mizuki gave Naruto a smile as the blonde foxboy walked out of the door, which Naruto returned. _Nice kid, not like the other little monsters. Gives respect to his elders that they deserve... Who does that nowadays?_

The newly formed Team 7 walked out of the classroom, and Kiba gave a whoop. He turned around to Naruto.

"Man! Who thought that I would be with both of you?" Kiba grinned. "That's goddamn amazing! There hasn't been a four man team for as long as I remember!"

Naruto returned the grin, and Shino just nodded. The girl that was accompanying them -- Hinata, was it? -- just looked at the floor. Naruto could tell that she probably felt like she was intruding on something, and it would probably be a good idea to make friends with her. She didn't seems to be all that popular, anyway.

As Kiba conversed animatedly with a still Shino, Naruto slowed his pacing until he fell beside the white-eyed girl.

"Hi, my name's Yaiba Naruto, dozo yoroshiku."

The girl looked up with a start. It didn't seem like she was expecting anybody to just come up and introduce themselves like that.

"A-Ah, I'm Hyuuga Hinata, pleased to make your acquiantance." She said with a small bow. Naruto just raised an eyebrow at the gesture.

"No need to bow, Hinata-chan." Naruto said politely. "Thought I might get to know my teammate, you know."

"T-Thank you, Naruto-kun." Hinata said with a small blush. "I'm not sure that I'll be good for anything, though."

Naruto shook his head, and smiled.

"Nonsense, everybody's good at something. How did you pass then, if you aren't good for anything? You're just being modest."

Hinata's blush deepened a little, though Naruto didn't notice.

"N--no. I can't actually fight that well... I think the teacher just passed me because of my heritage... That's probably why." Hinata said, though the last part was mostly to herself. Naruto managed to hear the whole thing though, due to the training that his father gave him.

"What do you mean?"

Hinata seemed mortified that he had heard the rest of her monologue.

"I can understand if you don't want to talk about it." Naruto grinned. "But I don't think that Iruka-sensei would do something like that. He's seems tough, that I can tell, but he's really fair. He's a great guy."

"T-Thank you, Naruto-kun." She said with the smallest hint of a smile.

"No problem." Naruto said, and picked up his pace to join his two male friends.

---

"GAH!" Kiba roared. "We've been here waiting for how goddamn long and he still isn't here yet!"

They were sitting in an empty classroom. Their jounin-sensei still hadn't arrived yet, even though it had been at least two hours that they had been told they were to be a team. Hinata sat near the back, looking through a small book that she had found somewhere on the teacher's desk. Kiba and Akamaru were sitting near the front, grumbling. Shino stood near the window, looking out at the sunny playground. If anybody saw his expression at the time, it would be of the utmost boredom. Naruto was just sitting with his leg up on the table, trying to catch a quick nap. The atmosphere was comfortable, and the sunlight streaming through the window was warm.

"M-Maybe he has something important to do, Kiba-kun." Hinata said, stuttering.

"There's a possibility." Shino said.

"Goddamnit! I hate late people!" None of their words seemed to reach Kiba, who stood yelling righteously.

Naruto gave a muffled snort and tried to get comfortable.

Then, Kiba had the great idea to freeze the floor in front of the door with an ice jutsu. Where he learnt the jutsu, one couldn't be sure, but from what they could see all it was good for was turning water to long-lasting ice, and lo and behold, there was a bucket of water right by the teacher's desk. When Kiba had finished with the deed, he was sniggering. Shino just ignored it, and Hinata just blushed. Naruto didn't even notice the prank, as he was already deep in sleep.

After aroudn thirty minutes had passed, and everybody was actually wondering if the jounin was going to show up, the door opened. Out popped a jounin wearing his hitai-ate like an eyepatch. He casually stepped forwards, and was sent immediately flying. Kiba's sniggering turned to all out laughter, and even Shino had to smirk. It was his fault for making them wait like that. Shino was patient, not a statue for the Shodaime's sake.

The jounin sighed, feeling the ice melt into water and seeping into his clothes.

_What a day, what a day..._

"My first impression... is that I really don't like you guys."

"Well, who said we liked you either!" Kiba yelled.

---

After the jounin had dried himself out with a low-level fire jutsu, he ushered them onto the rooftop, and looked over at them.

"Well then... How about you guys tell me about your names, likes, dislikes... hobbies, dreams for the future?" He asked. "Since we're going to be working together we might as well know each other, right? Hey, you. The one with the sunglasses, you first." He pointed at Shino.

He took a moment to think before he replied.

"Aburame Shino. I like researching various types of insects. I dislike flytraps, aerosol, anything that is designed specifically to damage or to hurt bugs. My dream is to acquire a Kikkai bug that surpasses my family's version completely and utterly. My hobby is to collect insects for my collection."

"There are different types of Kikkai bugs?" Naruto asked Kiba.

"Yeah, Shino's is one of the most basic, that's what he told me." Kiba replied.

"Admirable." The jounin said, and turned to Hinata. "And you?"

Hinata blushed, before starting to speak.

"A-Ano, I'm Hyuuga Hinata. I like my family, and my little sister Hanabi. I dislike people that hurt others for no good reason. My hobby is origami, though I'm not very good at it, and my dream is to become a ninja that my father will be proud of."

_This is quite a first... A person with a Bloodline not being an arrogant jackass. Though she might need a little boost in confidence... I can deal with that, and her teammates would probably help her._

"Very nice. Next, you." He pointed towards Kiba, who grinned.

"Inuzuka Kiba! I like steak, biscuits, and pointy things! I hate cats, goddamn sissy things, prancing around all the fucking time and admiring themselves..." Kiba muttered, and everybody sweatdropped. "My hobby's taking walks with Akamaru here, and my dream is to become the best man-beast team in Konoha with Akamaru!"

The jounin nodded.

"And, lastly, you." He said, turning towards Naruto. His teammates also started paying attention, wanting to know more about this mysterious newcomer. Naruto smiled and scratched his head.

"Ah, well, I'm Yaiba Naruto. My like's include ramen and being with my friends, and the wind here in Konoha, it's really peaceful. My dislikes include... well. I don't really dislike anything, except maybe pain." The jounin groaned internally at this. _What kind of ninja was afraid of pain? _"My hobbies includes reading books and playing some chess. I don't really have any dreams... except protecting people that are precious to me. Now enough about me, what about you, Kakashi-sensei?"

The gray-haired jounin's single visible eye widened in surprise.

"Oh, so you know about me."

Naruto shrugged.

"Well, all my dad talked about with me was that you're really tough, and you've got this Bloodline that's not really yours underneath your headband. I mean, you're the only guy I've seen so far that fits the description." He explained. "Copycat Nin Hatake Kakashi."

Kakashi smiled, though how anybody could tell underneath that mask was really a mystery. His eyes curled upwards.

"Yeah, yeah, sensei!" Kiba called. "You haven't told us anything about you yet!"

"Alright, alright." Kakashi said. "My name's Hatake Kakashi, like you heard the kid. My likes and dislies... well, I don't want to tell you. I have a lot of hobbies, and dreams, well..."

Naruto shook his head. Kiba groaned. Shino did nothing. Hinata giggled.

"C'mon, sensei!" Kiba yelled. "You've only told us your name!"

---

"So, how was your day?" Akira asked his son as they sat around the living room of their new house. It was still rather bare, but that was only because he hadn't gotten aroudn to it yet. After all, with Kage Bunshin even the mundanest of tasks became easy as pie. "What do you think of your team?"

Naruto looked up from the scroll that he was pouring over. It was the last of the Yondaime's scrolls, and it was the only one that had talked about his Bloodlines. He had just recieved it a few days ago on his birthday, and hadn't had the chance to study it yet.

"Well, it was pretty good. I got put into a four man team, my teammates are Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, and my jounin-sensei is Kakashi-san."

Akira whistled.

"An Inuzuka, Hyuuga, Aburame, and the Copycat Nin himself. Whoa, you lucked out."

Naruto grinned.

It was night time now, and they were sitting around the fireplace, lit alight by one of Akira's fire jutsus. They had just finished training, and then had a bit of dinner. Now they were just sitting around fireplace, talking to each other about their day. It had become a bit of a tradition now, as it was something that the Yondaime and Akira had both done in their youth.

They conversed for a while, not talking about anything really important. Akira talked about all the paperwork that he had to go through to get both of them to be accepted as Leaf-nin. Naruto talked about how they waited for Kakashi, and Akira just chuckled. Being a friend of the Fourth's, he knew the kid was usually incredibly late, and he knew the reason for it. It was sad really... to lose both a friend and a teammate all in one day.

Suddenly, they heard knocking on the door. Akira swore and got up out of the chair that he was sitting in and opened the front door. Standing on the other side was a bunch of Leaf-nin. Akira imediately got serious, as the shinobi weren't looking like they were here for fun.

"Somebody's stolen the Forbidden Scroll!" The nin on the other side shouted. "Come on out newcomer and give us a hand hunting him down! He can't have gotten really far, the scroll's theft was reported only a few minutes ago!"

Akira had a look of shock on his face.

"What? But the Scroll... isn't that under Hokage-sama's protection?"

"The culprit slipped a drug into Hokage-sama's tea when they were talking." The ninja said. "Then he locked him up with a binding jutsu, and started looking for the scroll. The secretary came in right when he found it and he ran off!"

"Who? Who is it?" Akira asked.

The ninja had a completely serious expression on his face.

"Arashima Mizuki, the teacher's assistant of Umino Iruka from the academy!"

Akira's eyes widened, and he turned around.

There, where Naruto had been sitting, was nothing but air.

Akira swore.

---

_There has to be some mistake! Mizuki-sensei wouldn't do something like that!_

Naruto flew along the treetops. He had to get to Mizuki before the rest of the ninja did. There had be to some mistake... He wasn't a bad judge of character, even his father had said so. It was a part of his Bloodline Limit... He could tell good people away from bad people. It had saved both him and his father a whole lot of times when he had started taking missions with him. He had seen Mizuki-sensei's soul, and there was no way that he would just up and steal away something as important as the Forbidden Scroll.

There definitely had to be some mistake.

It was thoughts like these that nearly caused him to miss the demonic chakra that he felt, rather than saw, a few meters away from him. He stopped immediately, trying to find the source of it. He looked left and right a bit, before feeling the source of the chakra right underneath him.

He silently peeked over the branch, and nearly gasped at what he saw.

Underneath him, on the forest ground, was Mizuki-sensei. His bandanna was gone, and he was bound by chakra strings and his mouth was tied with a gag. He was obviously awake, though in a lot of pain. Kunai and shuriken, Mizuki's own, had been stuck into him around the torso and the limbs. His right arm was broken, and there was a massive gash that went from the right side of his body all the way down to his thigh, and Naruto couldn't help but wince at the amount of damage that had been done. But what had obviously done the damage took the cake.

In front of the helpless teacher's assistant, stood another Mizuki, this one smirking, holding a large scroll on his back.

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise.

_That's Henge! I knew it! There's no way that Mizuki-sensei would've stolen the Forbidden Scroll...! The imposter took Mizuki-sensei's identity to talk to the Hokage, and this probably happened right after class. Judging from the damage done to Mizuki-sensei, they probably had a fight. Probably somewhere in the forest, since if it happened in Konoha itself people should notice._

It wasn't hard to figure out what had happened after that. The imposter then bound Mizuki up, and had left him here while he went to seek an audience with the Hokage, probably using some kind of teaching issue as an excuse.

Naruto's eyes narrowed, and his hand fell to his weaponry pouch. Taking a kunai out, he tied an explosive note around it, and launched it into the air. Five seconds after, at the height of its way up, the kunai blew up in an awe-inspiring flash of light.

Naruto grinned. _That was my custom-made flashbang signal note, imposter. If you were able to take on Mizuki-sensei, a chuunin, that means I probably won't be able to deal with you alone, but I'm not stupid. United we stand, divided..._

He watched as the fake Mizuki turned around and look at him, surprised. But he wasn't there anymore. In the second that the imposter had turned around, he had flown off the branch and landed on another one. Rapidly, he flashed through a series of seals.

**"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"**

Three Narutos popped into existence aroudn the original, and each launched towards the faker, rebounding off the branch they were standing on. The real Naruto flipped into the air, and landed on another branch higher up. He watched as the faker regained his posture, and answered to the attacking clones by taking out a fuuma shuriken. With a swing, the large black flying disc of death tore through one of the clones, but missed the other two by a hair.

Naruto began to flash through another series of seals. The Kage Bunshin alone wouldn't do in this battle.

**"KATON: TSUIN SHINSEI - KAGAMI KOURIN!" (Fire Style: Twin Nova - Fire God's Advent)**

Suddenly, as the imposter duked it out with the two clones, a spot of the sky above them started turning red. As the battle raged on underneath, the red spot seemed to shrink, yet as it did it seemed to grow in intensity. When the imposter had finally finished off the rest of the clones, he finally noticed the gathering of chakra, but when he looked upwards it was too late.

A red pillar of fire shot down from the large red spot, and hit the spot where he had been standing. The surrounding area suddenly burst into flame, ignited by the sparks that had hit the ground when the pillar of fire had touched down. Naruto grinned from his position on his branch, though he knew it was far from over. A person capable of defeating a chuunin with barely a scratch wouldn't... couldn't be so weak. But he couldn't feel their presence anymore... They had probably ran.

_Well... Now that the guy's gone, the first thing I should do is free Mizuki-sensei, and then i'll be able to tell the hunter-nin what had just happened. _Naruto decided. _The imposter could wait... The Forbidden Scroll isn't as important as somebody's life, and Mizuki-sensei's injuries look pretty serious._

Mizuki wriggled around a bit, as if he was trying to tell him something.Naruto quickly ran over to his side, and ripped the gag off his face. Mizuki gave a sharp gasp, and yelled out his warning.

"NARUTO-KUN! HE'S RIGHT BEHIND YOU!"

It was right at that moment that a kunai pierced straight through the blonde foxboy's heart.


	3. Chapter 3: Monster

**AURA  
by Random Writer 46  
**

**---**

**Ah... I don't know what to say, but I guess the first thing is that I want to thank all you guys for reviewing so promptly. There's so many reviews that I don't think I'll be able to reply to them all, so I've decided just to talk about a few important issues here in the author's note. Please note that these aren't direct replies to the reviews, and that they are only public annoucements that some of the reviews have brought up.**

**First thing, the Ayanami Rei mention from Evangelion. I want to tell you guys that it was just a bit of improvising when my brain stopped thinking up Japanese sounding names for my characters, so I just randomly picked names that could fit. She won't be directly involved in the story, so I guess the best you could call her appearance is a cameo. You'll also notice the other two names are also from other games and anime, Heihachi being the asshole grandfather of Jin from Tekken.**

**Next, Naruto being an extra. This was basically just an excuse to put Naruto in the same team as Kiba, Hinata, and Shino. If you think about it, the amount of academy students that graduate the exam is usually pretty random, and there can't always be a multiple of three, so obviously four man teams are inevitable. As for the big deal about it, I guess that was just a product of what you might call a 'brain fart'.**

**Third, there will be no yaoi. Since I'm a straight guy, I can't really understand boy-boy. This doesn't mean that I'm anti-homosexual, in fact I support gay marriage since everybody deserves to be equal, regardless of their sexual orientation, it just means that I won't be putting any yaoi in here. Hetero pairings are a possibility, but I'm not that good at writing romance, so I guess it'll just depend on if a lot of people want it. After all, pairings are hard. Some may like NaruHina, and others might like NaruSaku, thus it might alienate some readers. I guess it'll all really depend, then...**

**Lastly, the good Mizuki. I don't know about you guys, but I've always felt a little bit bad when I found out Mizuki was a bad guy right in the first chapter. There was something really real about his facade to make Naruto steal the scroll that I've always found imagining Mizuki as a bad guy really hard. Every time I think back to it, the face I remember isn't the one that attacked Naruto and called him the demon fox, it's the face that talked to Naruto on the rooftop and told him that Iruka really did care for him. That's why I've decided to make him a good guy, oh, and expect a lot more bad guys turned good in this story! Hint, hint, wink, wink. Coughkabutocough**

**Thanks for the reviews people, and please keep sticking with me!**

**---**

**Chapter 3**

**--- **

Naruto stared at the kunai impaled in his chest, unbelieving.

Mizuki stared in open-mouthed shock, not making a sound.

It was a period of silence, as both parties absorbed the information within their minds.

And then came the chuckling.

Mizuki's head snapped towards the direction of the voice. The look of anger on his face was unnatural, Naruto dimly realized, it just didn't look right. Mizuki usually possessed a calm aura, and now, as his face contorted in rage, it just didn't seem right anymore. The shock still hadn't gone through yet. The kunai had pierced his chest, and then he remembered -- he remembered why he couldn't feel any pain.

"YOU BASTARD!" Mizuki screamed.

Naruto turned towards the imposter, who had shed his disguise.

He was wearing a blue vest over a black shirt, and baggy pants that went down all the way. He was wearing boots, which was strange for a ninja, and wore his headband on his upper left arm. Naruto's eyes were getting blurry now, and couldn't see the symbol. On both of his hands were fingerless gloves, just like a jounin's except without the metal band on the outside. He had tied a strip of cloth around his eyes, though Naruto doubted he was blind. White hair spilt past his neck, and stopped somewhere around the middle of his back. He was around the same age as Naruto, though maybe a little older.

Though he knew it didn't matter much, soon it would be finished.

The imposter-nin had been the one that had been chuckling, he realized.

"Kukuku... Good try, genin-kun." He had a smooth, silky drawl, and even without looking at his eyes, Naruto knew that he was laughing at him. He'd be in for a big surprise, though. "Though in the end, it wasn't good enough. I've already taken the Forbidden Scroll, and you're dying. I have to admit, I'm surprised that you're not dead yet, since I'm sure I went straight for the heart, but it doesn't matter. Even if I didn't hit a vital spot, the poison that my kunai's been coated with will fell you soon enough."

Mizuki grit his teeth, and swung around, desperately trying to free himself. Naruto-kun wasn't dead yet, that was a good thing. If he managed to get out of his binds, take Naruto, and run, then he should be able to find help. But the chakra strings that he had been tied up in had been seemed to possess a degree of intelligence, and every time that he almost slipped out they bound around him tighter.

Naruto stared at the kunai in his chest for a moment, and grasped onto it.

Mizuki gasped, and the imposter-nin's body posture spoke of surprise.

"You think..." Naruto gasped. "...That this is end of me?"

"You can still talk?" The imposter said, with a little amazement contained within. However, there was no trace of nervousness or fear, and only simple-minded curiousity. "It seems your constitution is a little better than the average genin... But that won't save you."

Naruto chuckled, though it was obviously in pain.

"Hehe... I know it's the end of me, but, you think it's the end of Naruto?"

"Naruto-kun...what do you mean?" Mizuki asked, from his position on the ground. He had stopped struggling by now, as it seemed to be a futile effort.

Naruto looked towards the silver-haired ninja, and grinned.

"Don't worry, Mizuki-sensei! I'll get you out of there, I promise!"

And with that, he disappeared in an explosion of smoke.

---

The imposter-nin sprang straight up.

"Kage Bunshin..." He gasped.

"Not quite." A voice said from the side.

As the imposter turned around, a kunai flung past him, missing his face by the width of a hair. There, standing in front of him, was the genin brat himself. The orange-wearing ninja had an air of confidence, though he seemed a little shaken, as if he had experienced death itself first hand.

"Seirei Bunshin no Jutsu (Art of Spirit Split Body)... the jutsu that sends my consciousness into a bunshin while my real body is controlled by the sentience of a normal bunshin." Naruto explained, at the puzzled face on the other nin's face. "I know you figured it out already."

"You send your consciousness into another bunshin... Therefore increasing its damage capacity by just inhabiting it with your mind. That's why the bunshin didn't puff out of existence the moment that I hit it with a kunai." The imposter-nin deducted, and Naruto nodded. "You created an extra Kage Bunshin, and the real you hid while the bunshin took over your spot, therefore confusing me while I was in battle with your other three bunshin. In your hiding spot, you used that jutsu of your's to inhabit your bunshin's body, while you instructed the bunshin inhabiting your body to hide. Clever."

Naruto groaned, he had gotten down everything that he had done.

"But you've wasted your chance. I dodged the chakra-enhanced kunai that you threw, and now that I know your tricks, it's not going to work again on me. I underestimated you, genin-kun, and that could've been my downfall. It won't happen again."

Naruto grinned, he had gotten it all wrong.

"You think I threw that kunai intending to finish you?"

The imposter-nin looked confused.

"Let me give you a hint... Objects infused with chakra, and only be destroyed with chakra..." Naruto grinned, and whistled.

When the whistle had died down, Mizuki had gotten behind the imposter-nin, and was now holding a kunai to his neck while twisting his arm back.

_"Checkmate."_

_---_

"Thank you, Naruto-kun." Mizuki said, his breaths coming in fast. "If you hadn't arrived, I would've been killed for sure."

Naruto grinned.

"No problem, sensei. Let's take this guy back, and then we'll be able to prove your innocence!"

Mizuki returned the grin. "What an idea... I'll be sure to return the favour sometime."

Suddenly, the faker spoke up.

_"Don't... think I'm done!"_

With a roar, the imposter blew back both Mizuki and Naruto off the branch that they had been standing on. Mizuki righted himself halfway down, but Naruto hadn't been so lucky. He landed on his arm, and gave a sharp gasp of pain as he got up. Mizuki looked towards the yougner ninja worried. Just as he was about to ask the blonde foxboy if he had suffered any serious injuries, Naruto shook his head and gasped out...

"No time, Mizuki-sensei! Look at him!"

The silver-haired chuunin assistant turned his face towards the imposter-nin, and was shocked at what he saw. The white-haired spy was enveloped in a dark blue aura which gave off a demonic feel. It had been the force of the chakra that had blown them off, Mizuki realized. This was so much more than the utilization of killing intent... this was the expulsion of pure chakra that propelled them off!

**"...You..." **The imposter rasped, his voice changed. **"...I've come too far to be caught now... Don't think I'm done! When I'm through... I will have the Forbidden Scroll, and both of you will be six-feet deep, buried beneath the earth... Your bodies will be desecrated by the worms, and I'll be free to live like a god!"**

"Careful, sensei!" Naruto called towards the silver-haired chuunin. "He has a pact with a demon! This is a Youki Aura!"

Mizuki's eyes widened in surprise, and he nodded to the blonde-haired genin. "What... what should we do? A genin and a chuunin can't take on a demon!"

Naruto looked worried.

"I don't think he's gonna give us much of a choise, Mizuki-sensei..."

**"SHI---NE! (DIEEEEE!)" **The imposter-nin screamed, and rebounded off the branch he was standing on towards the teacher-student pair on the ground. Mizuki predicted the charge a moment before Naruto, and managed to grab the orange-clad ninja's collar and jump off the ground not a moment too soon. The ground literally exploded, blown apart by the force of the youki.

"Shit, he's fast!" Naruto swore, and Mizuki let go of him. They could see the dust cloud below them vanish slowly, and the visible aura of dark-blue youki underneath. Naruto began to flash through a series of seals, preparing himself for a jutsu.

**"HAGANE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU! (Art of Steel Split Body)"**

A few Narutos popped into existence, and Mizuki noticed that they all had a metal sheen to them. They had the colours of the original Naruto sure, but it was like their skin was made of steel, and their clothing made of iron. Just with that observation, he could already tell what they were meant to do. Naruto dropped his stance, and jumped back just as the imposter-nin bounded off the ground and towards them again.

**CLANG--**

The Hagane Bunshins had done their job. Between the five of them, they had caught the imposter-nin, and with a command from Naruto, threw him towards the teacher-genin duo. Naruto nodded to Mizuki, and fell into a fighting stance. The silver-haired chuunin had caught the genin's cue, and had also dropped into a fighting stance, withdrawing his fuuma shuriken from his back.

**"MOURETSU KOURO! (Rage Run)"**

Naruto charged forwards, chakra trails burning behind him as he charged forwards like a mad beast out of hell. Mizuki reared his arm back, and prepared to throw the massive windmill blade. With one hand, he flipped through a series of seals while the other one gathered power. The fuuma shuriken righted itself as all four blades sprang to their proper positions.

**"KATON: SHURIKEN TATSUMAKI BAKUDAN! (Fire Style: Shuriken Tornado Explosion)"**

And Mizuki launched the fuuma shuriken, now a ticking time-bomb. Naruto ducked his head as the projectile flew past him, and Mizuki prepared another set of seals, this time intending on using most of his chakra. Now was when the imposter was most vulnerable, now was their chance to win.

**"SHURIKEN KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU! (Art of Shuriken Shadow Split Body)"**

At least twenty fuuma shuriken popped out of nowhere, heading straight towards the imposter. The demon-possessed nin seemed to recoil in surprise, and Naruto grinned. The shuriken made contact, and each one of them lit up like a dynamite. With a horrible, inhuman scream, the multitudes of fuuma shuriken blew up. Those that hadn't reached their target yet reacted to the first explosion like a chain reaction, and soon the entire space surrounding the imposter was filled with light, heat, and sound.

Naruto charged into the midst of the explosions, retaining his cool. He had been prepared for this, and was using his chakra to cool himself down. Swinging his fist back, he delivered a punch like a bullet, hitting the imposter shinobi into the earth, breaking a few branches on the way. Mizuki landed next to him, and gave a him a grin as the silver-haired chuunin pat the blonde genin on the back.

"Good job, Naruto-kun!" Mizuki laughed. "We did it!"

"Yeah! Mizuki-sensei!"

Suddenly, a burst of demonic energy stopped their cheering. The imposter had risen again.

**"It'S... NoT OVeR Ye... YEt...!"**

"What kind of monster is he?" Mizuki gasped.

Naruto watched in fear as the imposter began charging up demonic energy again. He had no more chakra left, and it looked like Mizuki was in the same condition. There was only one thing left to do if the faker charged again... He pulled out a kunai from his weapons pouch, and watched Mizuki flick another fuuma shuriken into its proper shape.

Suddenly, the imposter seemed to stop, and his body started convulsing in obviously unpleasant ways.

**"NO... WhA'ts GoING oN...!" **His body gave another spasm, and then he seemed to realize what was going on. **"NO! NO! I'm SoRry! PllEaSSE GIIVEE MEE AnnOOTheeR CHannce! NO N!ON# O!N#$ !ON# N! NN NNON$ ON !NTN !N$NT! $TN! YU# U$ GHDF GEF #$ !#Y !$ !#$ !#$ EGRE... NOOOOOOOO!"**

The spasm went on and on, and seemed to get stronger and stronger. His veins pulsed against his white skin, which was getting paler and paler by the second. Here and there blood veins burst, and black liquid dripped down his body. Suddenly, a bulge appeared against his blindfold, and got bigger and bigger before it burst, spraying eye bits everywhere. His scream went on for a long, long time.

"Oh my god..." Mizuki said, shuddering. He had never seen anybody die like that before.

Mizuki shuddered, and Naruto gazed at it, horrified. It was like a car accident... No matter how much you tried, you just couldn't look away.

After what seemed like an eternity, he finally keeled over where he stood and hit the floor, immobile. He wouldn't ever get up again of his own volition. Black blood pooled around his body, and his corpse seemed shrunken, as if all the water in his body had been drained. His hair fell out, bit by bit, and Mizuki turned Naruto's eyes away.

Pretty soon, they heard footsteps in the forest. The cavalry had arrived.

---

"Yaiba-san!"

Akira looked around, already used to his fake name. Iruka, one of the teachers at the academy, had been the one to call him, and when he stopped the chuunin ran up to his side. It was the day after the Forbidden Scroll incident, and the rest of the night had passed without incidence. Iruka seemed hurried, and there were bags under his eyes as though he hadn't slept very well.

"Umino-san, how are you?"

"Ah, Yaiba-san, thanks for stopping for me." Iruka said. "I just wanted to thank you for saving Mizuki."

"Hmm? Wasn't me. Was Naruto, my son. You know him?" Akira said.

Iruka looked stunned.

"Really?"

"Yeah. He got there when the imposter was about to kill Mizuki. Rescued the guy by faking his own death. I have to say he's pretty good at doing that." Akira laughed. He remembered a pretty bad instance when he had thought he had accidently killed his adoptive son in a training session. He had freaked out and when Naruto had reappeared he had actually fainted. Wasn't like a shinobi to do something like that, but he didn't really care. It was proof that he really cared about Naruto, and that was enough for him. "After that they started duking it out with the guy, and right when they ran out of chakra the guy died. Some kind of time limit jutsu, the medic-nins said."

"I... I knew that he was above average genin level, but I never thought..."

"I know. Pretty surprising, eh?" Akira grinned. "I'd say he's around lower chuunin level, the last time I checked, which is around, oh, half a year ago."

Iruka gaped.

"Yeah, that's what all the clients did when they saw his skills." Akira said. He honestly enjoyed bragging about his son's skills. After all, wasn't every parent supposed to be proud of their offspring?

"A-Ah... Thank you for your time then, Todoh-san." Iruka said. "I'd have to find Naruto then, and repay him."

"Hmm? Why do you want to repay him?" Akira asked.

"Because he saved Mizuki's life!"

"Oh. In that case, forget about it. He won't accept."

Iruka gaped at him.

"What? Why not?"

Akira grinned.

"Well, Naruto doesn't like recieving rewards for doing what he feels to be the right thing, and saving a fellow shinobi's life might rank pretty high up there in the category, eh." Akira explained. "He's a very conscientious kid... Didn't make a lot of friends in his life. He's lonely. He told me about Mizuki last night... said he was really nice. Anybody he categorizes as 'really nice' is automatically a friend."

"Amazing... you don't find many shinobi nowadays with a conscience..."

"Isn't it though? He's very altruistic."

"But... I'll feel horrible if I don't repay him somehow..."

Akira thought about it for a second.

"Well, there is something that he really likes, and he'd probably accept it too."

He got Iruka's attention.

"What? What is it?"

Akira fished around in his pocket for something, and took out a photograph. He passed it to Iruka, and the chuunin looked closely at it.

"Is that..."

"Yeah, ramen." Akira grinned. "Stupid kid loves that stuff. Invite him somewhere for a bowl of that, and I guarantee he won't decline."

"But, it's just ramen... It's so cheap."

"Well, I've tried to introduce him to shark-fine soup. He said it made his stomach feel funny though, so I don't think he liked it very much."

Iruka looked at the photograph, and passed it to Akira.

"No, you keep it." Akira said. "I've got five copies of that thing, and I don't really want it cloggin up my pockets, so keep it."

"Oh, well, if you're sure." Iruka said, and pocketed the photo. "Thanks for your time, Todoh-san."

Then Iruka ran off, intent on finding the blonde foxboy. Akira smiled at his retreating figure, and looked upwards at the sky.

_Looks like you've found a new friend... Naruto..._

_---_

"You."

Naruto turned around. The get togethers with the rest of his genin team had been canceled for today with the Forbidden Scroll incident and everything. Mizuki was staying in the hospital, due to a few bad scratches that he had recieved from the fight with the imposter-nin. In the end they hadn't even managed to find out his name, just enough information about him from his dead body to declare that it wasn't Mizuki after all that stole the Forbidden Scroll.

At the moment Naruto had been sitting down on top of a log in the training grounds to read a scroll on strategy that he had picked up from the library. It was a nice day, and soon he'd be able to see Mizuki at the hospital. It was 9 AM in the morning, and visiting hours hadn't opened up yet. After yesterday's battle the two shinobi felt a friendship develop between the two, Mizuki due to Naruto's selfless battle to rescue him, and Naruto due to Mizuki's nice and understanding nature.

"Hmm?" Naruto looked up.

Uchiha Sasuke walked up to him, and stopped. They were now only around five feet apart from each other. Naruto was sitting on the log, and Sasuke was standing in front of him.

"I've heard about the Forbidden Scroll incident."

"Oh." Naruto said, wondering where this was going.

Sasuke talked on.

"You're strong, aren't you."

"Not as strong as I would like to be, but maybe higher genin level." Naruto said, looking through the scroll.

There was a period of silence after that, with Naruto studying the various positions and techniques that would give him an advantage in battle, and Sasuke trying to think up the words to convey what he wanted to say.

"Fight me." There, that was it. Short and simple.

"No." And there was the reply. Also short and simple.

Sasuke nodded. He wondered why the blonde foxboy didn't want to fight him.

"Are you afraid of me?"

"Maybe a little bit." Naruto said calmly, trying to grasp the idea of the buttonhook maneuver. "But that's not the reason I don't want to fight you."

"Then why?"

Another period of silence.

"Why don't you want to fight me?"

"What would it do? Would it help with your suffering?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke looked stunned.

"What... How much do you know!"

Naruto calmly closed his eyes.

"I know a bit, but not enough. Let me get back to my question... Would fighting me help with your suffering?"

Sasuke calmed down, and thought about it.

"...Yes. If I fight you, I can become stronger." Sasuke said. He didn't why he was being so honest. "If I fight you, I can become stronger... Than him. Defeating him... will end my suffering."

"Will it really?" Naruto asked. "Would revenge help you?"

Sasuke felt anger bubbling up within him.

"Of course it will! He killed my family! He betrayed me! He is the cause of all my suffering, and all my pain! If I kill him, I can be free!" Then he immediately restrained himself. "Why do you want to know! What does it matter to you!"

Naruto folded up the scroll that was sitting in his lap.

"I want to know... Because I want to help you, Sasuke-kun." Naruto said, smiling. "Anger is natural. Betrayal is the worst kind of pain to bear. You can get angry all you want... I don't know much about the suffering you went through, and I don't know much about the kind of pain you suffered... but don't let revenge dominate your life, because in the end... the only one that wins is your enemy. Just a little food for thought. Ja ne."

And with that, Naruto walked off, leaving Sasuke with a lot more to think about.

---

**Sorry if the chapter's a little bit short people, but Christmas break is coming up soon. So once that happens expect some more updates to come from me!**


	4. Chapter 4: Happenings in Konoha

**AURA  
by Random Writer 46**

**---**

**Oh... A recent review has brought up something that I don't think I've ever talked about. I'm not sure where in the story I've ever said that Naruto had two Bloodlines, though if I have then I must apologize. He only has one, which'll be revealed pretty soon (probably in the Haku story arc). So, I hope that the reviewer who brought this issue up will continue reading, though if she won't then I understand.**

**Another issue is how Sasuke apparently knew about it. I like to think that somebody as sharp as Sasuke is probably listens to rumours and gossip to pick up current information. One of the possible reasons is scouting for Itachi, as he probably knows that the adults that he works with don't trust his avenger like attitude and might withold info from him. The other genin haven't heard about it because they wouldn't really care about stuff like that.**

**And Naruto's personality... I really liked the original Naruto from the manga, and his striving for the villager's acknowledgement really touched me. He's one of the most influential characters in the original story, so I wanted to see what would happen if I made him a little bit sharper and less dedicated to becoming strong. He has the amazing ability to change people, and with a more observant mind, he might be able to put this ability to more use.**

**Oh, and I'll be updating this regularly. At least once a week. More if I can fit it in.**

**---**

**Chapter 4**

**--- **

"Hiya, Mizuki-sensei." Naruto said as he walked into the hospital room.

Mizuki turned his head around as he looked at the blonde foxboy. His arm was in a sling, and the large gash that ran down his body had been stitched. Parts of his body that had been pierced by kunai and shuriken were all bandaged, and though he didn't look perfectly well yet, the expression on his face showed that he had enough excitement to last him for a while.

"Ah, ohayo, Naruto." Mizuki said. "Come here and sit down."

Naruto pulled up a chair, and sunk into it. Fumbling around in his pocket, he withdrew a package of squashed, sorry-looking peanuts.

"Here you go, sensei!" Naruto grinned. "I heard the hospital food here in Konoha tastes like crap, so I brought this along to cheer you up!"

Mizuki looked at the package, and raised an eyebrow.

"'Jacky's Jellybean Flavoured Peanuts?'"

Naruto scratched the back of his head.

"Well, I got it from a client when I was doing missions with my dad. He thought I was a kid or something, and gave me this... it kind of creeps me out, but I dunno. You might like it or something."

Mizuki laughed.

"Well, it's the thought that counts. Thanks." He took the package from Naruto and put it on the bedside table. "I wanted to thank you for saving me, Naruto-kun. If you hadn't been there that night... Well... I probably wouldn't be here now."

All of a sudden, Naruto seemed embarassed. There was a light flush on his cheeks.

"Ummm... You don't have to thank me, Mizuki-sensei." Naruto grinned. "Any other ninja would've done it, and the only reason I did it's because I was there."

Mizuki smiled.

"But the thing is that you _were _there." Mizuki stressed. "You saved my life just by being there, and fighting the imposter for me. And then after that you were still ready to help me prove my innocence. That's something to be proud of."

Naruto's blush deepened. He wasn't used to hearing compliments that didn't come from either his father or clients. This was the first time that a comrade, a friend, was praising him. Probably because he didn't have a lot of comrades and friends before... His father didn't count for obvious reasons.

"...I wanted to thank you, by giving you this."

Mizuki withdrew a fuuma shuriken from underneath the bed. It looked kind of old, but was very well taken care of. There were markings on the edges of the blade... Probably seals that increased power. On the ring near the center was inscribed Mizuki's name. With one look Naruto could tell that this was something of incredible personal significance to Mizuki.

"This was my first fuuma shuriken... It was made by my jounin-sensei. He sealed a jutsu within it to make it always return to me no matter how I throw it. It's sort of like a boomerang, except that it's really, really sharp." Mizuki said, smiling. "I wanted to give it to you, to thank you for saving my life. It may not seem like much, but it's very important to me."

Naruto was speechless.

"Mizuki-sensei, I don't... I don't think I can... I mean, I don't want to accept rewards for something I wanted to do." Naruto said, and his head fell. He felt a little ashamed for declining such a heartfelt gift.

The silver-haired chuunin thought about this for a bit.

"Well... If you don't want to accept it as a reward... How about you accept it as a gift of friendship?" Mizuki asked.

Naruto as speechless. Again.

"Really...? Mizuki-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Of course. You'll have to promise to take good care of it though."

And Naruto hugged him.

Mizuki was surprised at first, but then he relaxed. He had always been sort of an empath... Pretty good at figuring out people's emotions. When he had first seen Naruto, he had realized how different he was from the rest of the students. He was neither a genius, nor somebody normal. While kids his age thought of girls, guys, or ways to increase their power, he seemed to think of other things. But it was during this moment, that he truly realized how lonely Uzumaki Naruto was.

With a smile, Mizuki hugged him back like an older brother would to a younger.

After a few minutes, Naruto broke off the hug. There were a few tears in his eyes, Mizuki realized.

"S--Sorry about that, Mizuki-sensei." Naruto struggled with his words.

"No worries, Naruto-kun. And stop calling me sensei. It sounds too formal."

"Uhm, well then, what should I call you?"

Mizuki thought about it for a while.

"How about... aniki?"

Naruto grinned.

"Okay... aniki."

"Good, otouto." Mizuki smiled. "Now... let's find a way to pass the time. There's practically nothing to do here in the hospital, you know."

They thought about it for a while. It was just their luck that Naruto had forgotten his pack of playing cards at home.

"...So... hey, otouto..." Mizuki said. Naruto looked up. "...You play this?"

With a flourish, Mizuki withdrew a deck of some sort from his back pocket. Naruto's eye widened as he realized what it was. Both the silver-haired chuunin and the blonde genin grinned. Naruto took his own deck out of his weapons pouch, and started setting up the cards.

"Eight-thousand life points?"

"Eight-thousand life points."

---

"...And then I attack with 'C-Class Missing-Nin'!" Naruto cried.

Mizuki grinned.

"Not so fast." The silver-haired chuunin countered. "I activate the Ninja Tool card, 'Log Trap'. Anything over 1000 attack is immediately destroyed."

Naruto swore and Mizuki laughed as the blonde genin moved the 'C-Class Missing-Nin' to the graveyard. It was now Mizuki's turn.

"I play the Jutsu card, 'Kuchiyose no Jutsu'." Mizuki said. "Now I get to summon any ninja card that has less than 2000 attack. I summon 'Gamakichi'."

"Why do you wanna play that card? It only has 900 attack."

"Watch and learn." Mizuki said, sagely. "I'll now use the 'Frog Scroll', which allows me to sacrifice any frog card for 'Gamabunta'."

He looked through his deck, and found the right card. Naruto gasped as he saw it, it was the super shiny holo first edition! Even the normal version was hard enough to get... Mizuki put it down, and Naruto blanched at the attack written. 3500. Dear Shodaime... 3500.

"I give, aniki." Naruto sighed.

Mizuki grinned, "Wise choice, otouto."

Naruto took a look at the time.

"Oh, it's already noon." Naruto noted. "Sorry, aniki. I've got to go get lunch now."

"Alright, thanks for stopping by." Mizuki said.

Naruto got up from his chaira, and moved the table where they had been playing the card game to its proper position in another corner of the room. He picked up his cards, and put them in his weapons pouch. Mizuki did the same with his cards, except he put them in his back pocket. Naruto gave a wave to the silver-haired chuunin, and was just about to leave before Mizuki called him back.

"Naruto! You forgot your fuuma shuriken!"

The blonde foxboy grinned sheepishly, and retrieved it.

"Whoops."

Mizuki waved it away.

"No worries... Oh by the way, would you like some lessons in using that thing once I get out of the hospital?" Mizuki asked. "There's a lot of jutsu that can be used with a fuuma shuriken. I used two of them against that faker, remember?"

Naruto thought back to it, and nodded.

"An explosion jutsu of some sort, and some sort of Kage Bunshin...?"

"That's right." Mizuki grinned. "Stuff like that."

"Alright, sure!" Naruto said. "Though... don't you have a lot of work to do once you get out of here?"

"Naw... All I have to do is help Iruka teach kids ninja tools. I'm the master of that, you know, and one more to teach won't matter at all. Back in my genin days I was the long-ranger, you know."

Naruto nodded.

"Okay, then. Thanks, aniki." Naruto said. "See you tomorrow!"

Mizuki waved Naruto goodbye, and watched as the blonde foxboy ran off. He took the package of peanuts off the bedside table, and after eyeing it for a few seconds, opened it up. He had an intense look of concentration as he took out a peanut, examined it closely, and popped it into his mouth.

---

"Naruto!"

Naruto turned around at the sound of somebody calling his name. Iruka caught up to him, panting. It seemed like he had been doing that a lot recently. He stood next to the blonde genin, and scratched the back of his head. Naruto looked up at the taller chuunin, wondering what he was doing here.

"Yeah?"

Iruka grinned sheepishly.

"Ah..." Iruka said. "I wanted to thank you for saving Mizuki."

Naruto smiled.

"No need, sensei." Naruto said. "Aniki's already thanked me."

"Aniki?" Iruka asked, confused.

"Yeah! Mizuki's my aniki now. He gave me his first fuuma shuriken and told me to expect some training in the use of it right after he gets out of the hospital."

Iruka nodded, and a little lightbulb lit up over his head.

"Ah, well. Since Mizuki's already thanked you, I guess you don't want to come to a ramen place with me then..." He muttered, turning around and made as if he was about to walk off.

Naruto suddenly stopped still.

"...And I guess I don't need these ramen coupons then, since I don't eat much ramen myself..." Iruka lamented, and took a few steps. He could practically feel the psychic energy that Naruto was giving off behind him. "...Ah, well... Can't help it... I'll probably just throw them in the garbage somewhere..."

Naruto snapped.

"Wait!" The orange-clad genin cried, and Iruka grinned.

Hook, line, and sinker.

---

Naruto groaned. He had been conned by the chuunin sensei into accepting a reward that he didn't want to accept. Stupid... There were only a few people in the world that knew about his ramen addiction, and he didn't even have to think to know who had told Iruka about it. Who else but his tousan?

As he walked along, deep in thought, he didn't realize he had accidently entered the training grounds.

The sounds of training reached his ears, and he perked his head up, turning towards the source of the grunts and thuds. There, in front of a few training dummies, stood a green-wearing boy that was punching the lights out of a straw-hat wearing practice target. As he watched, bits and pieces of straw flew out of the dummy. It was being hit so fast and furiously, that Naruto was amazed that it hadn't turned to dust yet.

The boy continued on like that for a while, never noticing Naruto's presence as he thumped and punched, jabbed and hooked. At long last he swayed on his feet, and toppled to the floor in exhaustion. He raised a dirtied bandaged arm, and wiped away his sweat away. The sounds of clapping reached his ears, and he moved his head to get a clearer view.

There, a few feet away from him stood Naruto, clapping softly with a smile on his face.

"That was amazing."

Rock Lee flushed, unused to praises coming from strangers. The only person that had ever complimented him was Gai-sensei.

Naruto walked up beside the tired Leaf-nin, and sat down beside him.

"That was some pretty rough training going on there."

The green-clad boy barely had enough energy to breathe, yet he nodded.

"So... What's your name?"

"Ro... Rock... Lee."

"."

Lee nodded again.

"...Any reason you were training so hard?"

"Must... get stronger... prove... ninja way... defeat... genius... hard-working... strong too..."

Naruto nodded, and took out a water bottle.

"Want some?"

Lee nodded. Naruto unscrewed the cap, and poured it over the green-clad genin's face. As Rock Lee choked and sputtered, Naruto grinned. After the green-clad genin had his share of water, he couldn't help but grin back.

"Had enough?"

"Yeah... thanks..."

Naruto took a look at Lee's hand. One of the bandages had become unraveled, and he could see the physical torture that the boy one year his senior had put himself through. He took a look at the genin's prone form again, and noticed that he didn't have any chakra residue around his body. It was weird... especially for a ninja who depended on chakra for life and strength.

"You don't have any chakra around your body..." Naruto observed.

"Yeah..." Lee gasped. "I was born this way... I can't use ninjutsu, genjutsu too... There's no way for me to use chakra to power my body up without doing a lot of damage to myself..."

Naruto nodded. What an existence he had... And this boy still wanted to be a ninja? It took willpower, guts to do something like that, and Naruto was both happy for and amazed by him. Judging by the speed and ferocity of Lee's attacks, he was a very powerful taijutsu specialist. Very powerful... even for a normal ninja. A handicapped shinobi that could duke it out with the best... There was something to be said about hard work, after all.

"So... tired..."

The blonde genin nodded. The workout that the boy had put himself through would, without the use of chakra, topple even himself. It was amazing that he hadn't already fainted yet. If nothing else, at least Lee had been blessed with extraordinary endurance and consitution.

"It's okay. Okaeri nasai, Lee-kun."

Lee found his eyes starting to droop.

"Wait... what's... name...?"

"Me? Well... I'm just a person who works hard, like you."

Naruto wasn't sure if his words went completely to the young genin, but he knew it wouldn't matter anyway. By the time the green-clad genin gets up, he would've already categorized the blonde foxboy as a figment of a tired imagination.

He stood up from where he had been sitting, and walked off into the distance.

---

**"So... Rassetsumaru failed."**

**The room was hidden in darkness. Several figures stood around a glittering pond, which shone even though there wasn't any light in the room to reflect. It was one of the figures that had been talking, and it had an agitated air around it. Its voice was distorted, making the gender of the speaker hard to figure.**

**"He was weak. When he took that pact with the demon, he had expected power tens of times more than what he had gained." Another figure said. "He didn't realize that neither his body nor his mind were suited... Demonic powers need to be trained to become stronger, just like normal shinobi abilities."**

**"But what matters is that he didn't even manage to retrieve the Forbidden Scroll..." The first figure said. "This won't do."**

**Another figure, neither the first nor the second, seemed to think about this for a while. **

**"Hmmm... This will be problematic." The third deducted. "But we don't need the scroll right now anyway. If the time comes and we are truly without it, I shall send one of my best warriors to remove it from its place in 'leaves within the flame'."**

**The first accepted this suggestion.**

**"Very well then, Mokuyobi. But for now, we wait."**

**Mokuyobi bowed, and retreated into the rest of the figures. In the dim lighting, it was hard to tell which one he was.**

**"Any reports, Kaiyobi?" The first figure asked.**

**Another figure, Kaiyobi, stepped forwards.**

**"...There's been reports. The snake is starting to move out. It seems like its target is the 'leaves within the flame'. For what reason, my spies do not know, but there are rumours among their ranks. The red wheel is one of the land's most protected treasures, and its value is such that the other Hidden Villages look upon it with envy and jealousy. The red moon group are still in hibernation, though some of my spies have reported that there have been various avatars in various villages attacked at the same time. It can't all be coincidence."**

**"Thank you, you may step down." The first figure said, slowly.**

**Kaiyobi did so.**

**The second figure cursed.**

**"So they're still trying to use the power of demons for themselves, eh?"**

**The first figure nodded.**

**"The power of a demon is something to behold. Humans are controlled easily by jealousy and the need for power. As long as there is power in the world, people will have the desire to hold it within their own hands. This is one advantage that our own group has, remember?" It said. "But everything happens for a reason... After all..."**

**A hand suddenly appeared out of the cloak that it had hid itself in. The hand looked perfectly normal, though looks could be decieving. With a flick of the wrist, flames suddenly erupted out of it.**

**"...We hold the favour of Kyuubi-sama. Together, we will not fall."**


	5. Chapter 5: Teamwork

**AURA  
by Random Writer 46**

**---**

**Oh, man... I keep using these author's notes to address reviews, don't I?**

**Well, first thing. Kakashi isn't Sasuke's jounin-sensei because I'm lazy. That's it. It probably would've worked the same with Kurenai or Asuma, or even Gai or something, but I'm just more familiar with Kakashi's methods as the readers know him the best and it would've been too much work to develop a personality for Kurenai or Asuma. But if you really want to be finicky let's just say that the adiministration didn't put Kakashi with Sasuke because they were afraid of favouritism.**

**Second, Kyuubi probaby... PROBABLY... won't be evil. You know how crazy cults are, twisting the words of various other religions and putting their own mark mark on their teachings, not that I have anything personal against cults in general, but still. Heck, I still don't know yet. I'm pulling stuff out of my ass as I get on with the story, though my imagination's never failed me before and always manage to surprise me when everything looks the bleakest.**

**Third, I love messing with minor characters. There are some that I feel don't have enough development, and I feel that they deserve more. Look forward to plenty of that kind of stuff!**

**Oh, and I haven't chosen pairings yet. Though this chapter might suggest otherwise. Remember, I haven't chosen the pairings yet!**

**P.S. I don't think that the Sharingan can be taught. If you'll recall, the only reason that Sasuke activated his Sharingan at all was because Naruto was in danger. Prior to this he had never even known that Kakashi had the Sharingan at all. And even after he activated his Sharingan, the only thing that Kakashi taught him was jutsus and stuff, and not how to utilize the Sharingan. So my idea is that Sasuke can work well with any other jounin-sensei.**

**Hope I didn't offend anybody with this. Please keep reading my fic! (An author's nothing without an audience.)  
**

**---**

**Chapter 5**

**--- **

"You will have to get these bells from me."

They were in the training grounds of Team 7. Kakashi was holding three bells in his hands. Hinata was looking at them nervously. Shino was indifferent. Kiba was restraining his barely contained excitement. Naruto was sleeping on a branch.

Kakashi stared at the napping genin, and sweatdropped.

"Hey, yo. Get up."

Naruto rolled over in his sleep, mumbling something.

"Get up, or you're going to miss the instructions."

Naruto opened one eye, and sat up. Rubbing his eyes, he turned towards the jounin-sensei.

"Oh...? Kakashi-sensei, when did you arrive?"

Kakashi sweatdropped again. Nobody had ever responded to his late arrival with something like that. Maybe this was what Gai felt whenever he ignored him...

"Okay, okay..." Naruto yawned. "I'm up."

Gracefully, he slipped off the branch he was on and onto the ground. Kiba turned towards the older shinobi.

"C'mon, sensei!" Kiba yelled. "Give us the damn briefing already!"

Kakashi scratched the back of his head. The whole mood was ruined now. Guess there was no way around it.

"Well... I've already told you that you have a sixty-six percent chance of failing this test, didn't I?" Kakashi said. "Your goal is to get these bells from me. Those who manage it will become genin, while those who don't get sent back to the academy for another year to brush up on your skills and analyze your failures."

The genin nodded.

"You have until noon. The person that doesn't get the bell will be tied to the log, and they will have to watch the rest of us eat." Kakashi said, and both Naruto and Hinata groaned. They had taken the teacher's advice to not eat. Kiba grinned, he had defied Kakashi's orders (on principle, nobody ordered an Inuzuka around! Well... except for another Inuzuka), and everything had paid off! Shino just said nothing, his bugs provided him with nutrition from the substances that they consumed, so he didn't need to eat anyway.

"Alright then... We begin... now."

**--- **

"Uh... you two are a little off."

Kiba just grinned wolfishly at the gray-haired jounin. Naruto just smiled and fell into a fighting stance. Kakashi groaned inwardly, it seemed like that he might've given this team more credit than they deserved. The other two genin had done well, what he had expected them to do, but these two...

Naruto coughed.

"Sensei... We feel that you might be underestimating us a little bit..."

Kiba continued.

"...And that since we haven't hid yet we're probably pretty stupid..."

By now Kakashi's spider-sense was prickling non-stop, yet he couldn't tell what was going on. He scanned the two genin in front of him with his non-Sharingan eye, trying to find out what they were trying to do. Neither of them were doing any seals... There was practically no chakra residue on them... He could see their footprints on the ground, so they weren't Bunshin either...

Naruto grinned.

"...I guess you think that none of us have even though of working together, being genin..."

"...Well, guess again."

Kakashi's eye widened.

The Kiba and Naruto in front of him both disappeared in a puff of smoke.

_Kage Bunshin...! I didn't expect either of them to know a jounin-level kinjutsu..._

Behind him there came a rustling sound, and he turned around immediatley. Put popped the two missing genin, who scrambled towards him in a straight on charge. Without even trying, he raised his hand and chopped them both in their sides. There was another surprise awaiting him though as he realized that not only did they both pop into smoke, his hand was suddenly in an excruciatingly large amount of pain. He took a look at it, and was surprised. There was a pretty big part of it, the part where he had struck the clones with, that had been burnt.

_Those Bunshin weren't Kage Bunshin... But they were solid. When I touched them I suffered a burn, a type of damage cause by Katon jutsu. A bunshin made out of fire, eh... Ingenious. Maybe I did undersetimate them a little bit too much._

But there wasn't enough time for him to wonder about it. Another Kiba and Naruto had arrived, out of the air, and were now trying to lay the smackdown on their jounin-sensei. The gray-haired shinobi deftly avoided their attacks, finding no room to counter. The two genin worked in nearly perfect unison... something that shouldn't be possible, especially when either shinobi had only met each other a four days ago. And with a hidden grin, Kakashi realized what was going on.

"Hey, look! Ramen!"

Both Naruto and Kiba turned around.

"Where?"

Kakashi grinned, and both genin turned back to the jounin-sensei, their hearts sinking. Kakashi delivered a powerful punch to the blonde-haired foxboy, sending him into a large group of trees. The blonde-nin burst into smoke as he flew, and Kakashi grabbed a surprised Kiba by the collar and held him up into the air.

"Good job... you nearly had me fooled there. Naruto."

Kiba grinned, and a puff of smoke turned him into the fox-nin.

"How... did you find out... Kakashi-sensei?"

"Your bunshins worked in perfect unison. Nobody... nobody could achieve that kind of cooperation in just a few days. It'd take years... even months with supervised training. You've known Kiba for four days... It was a good deception, trying to fool me into thinking both you and Kiba were double-teaming me even though it was just you... and here I thought Kiba had managed to learn himself something bunshin jutsus too. There was also the fact that Kiba wasn't fighting alongside Akamaru, and it was just himself. The Inuzuka don't leave their companions behind."

Naruto grinned.

"Well... that's what you think, isn't it, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto said. "Well, you've missed a pretty important part..."

Kakashi tilted his head.

"...I'm not working alone!"

"GATSUUGA!"

Two spinning tornadoes crashed into Kakashi's back, sending him flying into the soil. Naruto fell from his grip, and high-fived both Kiba and the transformed Akamaru. Kiba held out two bells that he had taken from Kakashi's belt when he had slammed into him, and Naruto took one gratefully.

"Thanks, Kiba."

"No problem, buddy." Kiba said, grinning. Akamaru barked in agreement, and turned back into the little dog he was before. "Dogs are the loyalest animals ever, you know. Now that we've got the bells, let's scram!"

Naruto grinned. "Loyalest isn't a word."

Kiba just shook his head, scooped Akamaru up, and disappeared into the foliage. Naruto followed shortly.

Kakashi picked his head up from the dirt.

_Mental note. Never ever underestimate your students again, or you might just end up being the laughing stock of all the other jounin... and the chuunin too. Though at least they got the gist ot it. Maybe they'll pass after all..._

_---_

"...What's happening, Hinata?" Shino asked.

They were hiding on a branch that stood somewhere above the clearing. Hinata currently had her Byakugan activated, and was staring down at the clearing. From his position in the tree, Shino couldn't see anything. The only sensation that his kikkai bugs were passing to him included the sense of chakra, and he knew there was a lot of it going around down there. Most of it seemed to come from Naruto, though there was some chakra that carried the tint of Kiba and Akamaru.

"U-Um... Naruto-kun and Kiba-kun have both managed to grab their own bells." Hinata confirmed. "That means there is only one bell left..."

Shino nodded.

"I guess that means we're on our own for this..." Shino concluded. "But that doesn't mean I'll hinder you, Hinata. Let us split up and begin attacking Kakashi-sensei seperately. May the best shinobi win."

Hinata nodded, unsure of herself. Shino vanished in a flash of bugs, and the only sound that Hinata could hear now was the pounding of her own heart.

_N-No... I can't do this. There's a jounin down there... He can kill me without using one tenth of his chakra... There's no way I can--_

Her monologue was interrupted with the arrival of a certain blonde-haired fox-nin. Naruto had sat down beside her with a smile on his face.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be trying to get the last bell from Kakashi-sensei down there?"

Hinata shook her head.

"I--I can't do it... There's no way that I can take a bell away from him... You're much stronger than me, and Kiba-kun too. If you had to work together to get the bells away from him, then there's no way I can..." Hinata mumbled, before she realized she was rambling. She covered her mouth with her hand, blushing.

Naruto smiled.

"Did you hear what you just said?"

Hinata raised her head with a confused look.

"W--What?"

"'If you had to work together'... That's the point of the whole exam."

"A--Ano, I don't understand..."

Naruto nodded.

"Alright, let me explain it this way. Genin operate in three-man teams, right?" Naruto asked. "I did a little bit of research before this, and I found out that this exam applies to all newly-graduated teams. Not just our four-man exception. If this exam was to root out the weak, then why would Iruka-sensei go through all that trouble to form us into teams that compliment each other's abilities?"

Hinata's eyes widened.

"Ahh..."

"You get it now, don't you." Naruto said. "A jounin can't be defeated by a genin, no matter how powerful."

"He expects us to work together..." Hinata realized.

Naruto grinned, and gave Hinata a thumbs-up.

"Alright, see here... This is what we're going to do..."

---

Kakashi smiled as he read his little orange book. It seemed like this team had some potential after all. Those two had perfectly orchestrated their attack, the many Bunshins and Henge turning his attention away from the second genin, and the final Gatsuuga to his back when he had let his guard down. It was a clever strategy, and if they really wanted to, they could've killed him right then and there.

Suddenly, to his right came another rustling. Kakashi put his book away.

Out popped Naruto again, this time followed by a slightly-hesitating Hinata.

_Huh...? He's already gotten a bell, why is he...?_

Naruto aimed a hard strike at the gray-haired jounin's head, which he deftly dodged. Kakashi was baffled. Had Naruto gotten slightly slower, or was it just him? As he backflipped onto a branch of another tree, the gray-haired jounin took another look at the blonde genin below him. It seemed like Naruto had also slightly changed his fighting stance as well...

Dodging a Jyuuken strike from the left, Kakashi groaned as he realized a combination of Naruto's crazy Bunshin-utilizing fighting style and the Jyuuken would really put him at a disadvantage without his Sharingan. The Bunshins were great at absorbing blows like sponges, and were also proficient at moving their enemies into positions which the Jyuuken can then take advantage of.

Speaking of Bunshins... Naruto hadn't pulled off a Bunshin yet. That was strange, considering how earlier he had been spamming those things like commercials.

Hey, wait... Bunshin... What a great idea.

Silently, he made a quick seal, and replaced himself with a Kage Bunshin while he hid behind some foliage. Watching as the gray-haired clone duked it out with his students, he was silently thankful that neither of his students below him had been taught to sense chakra yet. Yeah... He was pretty sure this was going to be the team. All he needed was the Aburame kid to show some sign of teamwork, and he could officially pass them.

Suddenly, he noticed the kikkai bug on his left shoulder, and laughed inwardly. He reached his hand to his waist... Yep, the last bell was gone.

Both Naruto and Hinata stopped fighting the clone, and turned their eyes towards his hiding place. He had been sure that the constant fighting would've kept the Hyuuga busy, though he guessed it was wrong now. As for Naruto...

"That was a pretty good deception you pulled off there, Shino."

Naruto vanished in a puff of smoke, and was replaced by the bug boy, who held a bell in his hand.

---

"So... the only person who hasn't gotten a bell here yet is Hinata?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto and Kiba looked at eachother, and Shino just looked indifferent. Hinata looked downwards.

_I... I've failed._

The thought hit her hard. She had failed... failed the Main House, failed her father, failed the Hyuuga's honour, and failed herself... She could feel the tears coming to her ears. There was nothing to be done now. She was going to be known forever as the heiress that had failed her genin exam. There would be no end to it. Her father held the Hyuuga's honour above all else, and the thought of his own daughter being so... so weak...

She could feel a sob coming on, but angrily held it within herself. If she would fail, she would do it with pride. The little bit of boldness that Hinata usually kept deep down within her had risen up, yet she knew it couldn't stay for long. If only... If only she had been a bit stronger...

Suddenly, a bell came flying and landed at her feet. Lookin upwards, Hinata looked into the eyes of the blonde fox-nin.

"Take it." Naruto said. Though there was a bit of hesitance in his expression, she could tell that he meant it. "I don't need it."

Kiba looked at his newest friend with shock.

"Really?" Kiba asked.

"Yeah..." Naruto said. "I can tell you need it more than I do."

It was mostly his Bloodline that had allowed him to do this... But looking at the expression on the poor girl's face and her dejected posture, he couldn't help but feel some kinship with her. There was no doubt in his mind that she had a hard upbringing. Her lack of confidence, everything about her... They all spoke of incredible family pressure. Inwardly, he knew that he didn't want to give his chance for shinobi-hood up, but...

"You just lack confidence, that's all." Naruto said to the shy girl. "I can't help you out that much... I'm not good with feelings. You can become a great kunoichi... Kiba and Shino will be great teammates for you. I haven't known them very long, but I can tell that they're both very loyal to their friends..."

He turned to Kiba.

"Help her out Kiba, I'll join you next year."

Kiba's look of shock had turned into a look of pride.

Naruto turned to Shino.

"Hey, I don't know you very well. But I can count on you to help her out, right?"

Shino nodded, indifferent as ever.

Naruto turned back to Hinata.

"Good luck, Hinata."

And with that, Naruto turned his back to the group and walked out of the training grounds, his hands in his pockets and with an even posture, leaving the three other genins with their own thoughts.

---

After a few seconds, Kiba turned to Kakashi and tossed him the bell. When Kakashi fixed a nonchalant eye on the dog-nin's face, Kiba explained.

"I'm not going on a team like this. Naruto is my friend now, and friends don't leave other friends behind. Sorry, Hinata, I can tell that you've got the potential to be great, but I'm not going on without Naruto. Even though I've only met him a few days ago, he's a great guy! He'd definitely save my ass in a fight, and that's the kind of teammate that I want as a genin. Shino, you take good care of her now like Naruto said. I'll be seeing you next year, just you wait!"

And with that, the dog-nin walked away. Akamaru followed his master, proud at him for showing such maturity. Both of them walked off into the streets of Konoha, their noses high in the air. They weren't sad for their missed chance to become genin. They weren't afraid of the consequences of their actions.

They knew dogs were the loyalest animals in the world.

---

As Kiba disappeared around the corner, Shino also turned towards Kakashi as well. He took the bell out of his pocket, and tossed it over at the silver-haired jounin.

"I guess you too, huh..." Kakashi said.

"My place is with both Kiba, and recently Naruto too." Shino said. "My apologies, Hinata, but like Kiba said. I cannot imagine a genin team without either of them."

Shino bowed, and disappeared in a cloud of kikkai bugs.

---

Hinata looked at the bell in her hand, and once again though of her father. Suddenly, the though of the leader of the clan didn't frighten her anymore... She had stared at her teammates eyes as they failed on choice, and realized their determination. They hadn't hesitated at all. She could feel their strength within her.

Silently, she gave the bell to Kakashi.

"Why?" The silver-haired jounin asked. "They did this for you."

She smiled, nearly all traces of the shy little girl gone. In her place stood a determined and unafraid young woman.

"...I--I... I really didn't want to fail." She said, and followed her teammates steps. "I can tell... they're all really strong, because it takes strength for them to do something like that. I'll go back too... It wouldn't feel right, succeeding only because my teammates willingly failed for me. I'll go back too, and because they're there, it wouldn't be so bad..."

She turned around, and disppeared into the crowds of people that littered the streets of the Hidden Leaf.

---

Kakashi closed his one single normal eye, and smiled. Silently, he tucked the bells into his pocket. Taking a look at the stone tablet that sat in the middle of the clearing, and walked up to it. The stone was really dusty... the gray-haired jounin carefully brushed off some of the dust that covered a certain name and its description. He had memorized its position a long time ago...

**_Uchiha Obito. _He showed us the importance of teamwork. He showed us that the value of a human is how far they are willing to go for another. Respected Uchiha, may you rest in peace.**

Still smiling, he got up. Taking out his little orange book, he looked up towards the heavens.

He had found the team that he had been wanting all these years.


	6. Chapter 6: Midgets and Vengeance

**AURA  
by Random Writer 46**

**---**

**Well, I don't think there's been any issues addressed to me in the reviews recently, so... I decided to make jutsu list for Naruto, counting only his many Bunshin jutsu. Well, many of you have been wondering where he's getting all these Bunshin jutsu from, and I want to tell you guys that it's not his dad. Most of them came from the scrolls that Akira bought him, but there are some that he created himself. Kage Bunshin was Naruto's favourite jutsu in the manga, and I think learning the Rasengan kind of took away from that (though the Rasengan he learns does require a Kage Bunshin) so I've decided to make him a bit more Bunshin-oriented in this story.**

**Kage Bunshin (Shadow Bunshin): **The least chakra-consuming, so good for swarming the enemy with.

**Hagane Bunshin (Iron Bunshin): **Used mainly for defense due to being able to take a life-threatening injury before poofing and several small injuries.

**Seirei Bunshin (Spirit Bunshin): **Used mainly for reconaissance, sends the user into the body of a Bunshin.

**Nenshou Bunshin (Burning Bunshin): **What he used against Kakashi last chapter, mainly utilized to inflict damage on the enemy.

**Bakuyaku Bunshin (Explosive Bunshin): **A ticking time-bomb Bunshin, though the user could choose to make it go off faster.

**Mizu Bunshin (Water Bunshin): **He has practically no use for this, since it's just like the rest of his Bunshins except weaker. But the good thing about them is since Naruto needs water for the rest of his Suiton jutsu, he could use these as ammo.

**Hirameki Bunshin (Flash Bunshin): **Just like the Bakuyaku, except when it blows up it's more of a flashbang effect.

**Kage Bunshin Sakari (Shadow Bunshin Prime): **?

**Jigoku Bunshin Sakari (Hell Bunshin Prime): **?

**Bakuyaku Bunshin Sakari (Explosive Bunshin Prime): **?

**That's all, now. Hope these will keep you in suspense!**

**Oh, and the reason that Kakashi didn't call them back when they left was because they left one at a time, and he really wanted to see their reactions to Naruto giving up his bell. That's all there really is to it.**

**Anyway, I really do want to become a writer when I grow up. I'm thirteen right now, so that's kind of far away. I do this writing stuff because I love playing god with characters that exist in my head, and I love manga, and Naruto's my favourite. Still, if you really think I'm gonna become famous one day, maybe I will! Oh, and I'm not catholic, I'm athiest. Dunno why somebody would wonder about that.**

**So, keep reading, my loyal book-monkeys! Let them all remember the name of Random Writer 46!**

**---**

**Chapter 6**

**--- **

"Kakashi-sensei..." Naruto said, frowning. "I don't think this qualifies as a job."

They were standing in the back lawn of some old lady. Naruto held a hoe in his hand, Kiba had a watering can, Shino had nothing (his bugs could do the job fine), and Hinata was carrying a few bags of seeds.

Kakashi reviewed the little slip of paper that described the job.

"Wait... 'Help Sadako-san plant petunias'... Yep, this is the right job alright." Kakashi verified, and returned the slip of paper to his pocket.

"Kakashi-sensei..." Shino said. "I don't think that's what Naruto means."

"Yeah! Yeah!" Kiba yelled. "When are we gonna get a _real _mission, huh! And I don't mean all this cat-catching, grocery-buying shit! I want some blood, sweat, and tears!"

Hinata just covered her face with her hands, embarassed at her teammates lack of etiquette.

"Kiba, there's a lady present." Kakashi said. Kiba looked around a little bit before his gaze landed on Hinata, and then he scratched his head and grinned sheepishly. "Alright then... If you're really in desperate need of a higher ranked mission I guess I'll have to ask Hokage-sama about this. But don't get your hopes up, and you've still got to finish this mission."

With a sigh, each one of them went to work.

After the genin test that they had, everybody had thought they had failed, though proudly. Hinata was yelled at by her father, Shino's family as indifferent, except his mother who fussed over him (she was non-Aburame), Kiba's dad congratulated his kid for displaying loyalty worthy of an Inuzuka, and Naruto's dad just tossed him a book and told him to study it for a while. It turned out to be a guide on teamwork, and Naruto read through it a little.

Imagine their surprise when next day Kakashi-sensei popped up on their doorstep, two hours late, asking for his students.

Hinata's dad had ignored her, Shino's dad was still indifferent, Kiba's dad gave him some fatherly advice, and Naruto's dad had been sleeping in. But that didn't matter to the newly-graduated genin. They hadn't failed, they had become full-fledged ninja. It had been one of the best days of their life, until they had recieved their first D-rank mission.

It quickly went downhill after that.

---

"Alright then... That's another mission finished." The Sandaime said as he filed away some papers. "I suppose you'd like another mission then? Well, one just came in... It seems like the Fire Lord's wife has lost her cat again, and has asked for a team of ninja to help her find it."

Naruto sighed. They've had that mission at least twenty times already... And seeing the Fire Lord's wife really explained why the dumb cat kept running away. He could feel Kiba's raging fury beside him, Shino's cold anger, and Hinata's irritation (though she wasn't going to express it, of course). It seemed like it was time for him to be the mediator again.

"Hokage-sama." Naruto said. The old man rose his head to look at him. "I think we've had enough of these D-rank missions, and I'm pretty sure my teammates share my sentiment as well. So, may we please have a C-rank mission for once? I don't see how it'll hurt..."

Sandaime thought about this for a while, and turned to Kakashi.

"I have seen my students in motion, and they're definitely ready for a C-rank mission." The gray-haired jounin verfied. "They also have incredible teamwork for a genin team. Though I might suggest that we invite another team along."

Naruto glanced at Kakashi. The silver-haired jounin just raised a finger to his lips. The silent sign.

The Hokage looked at the two, and down at the papers on his desk again.

"Yes... Well, let's see here." Sarutobi said. "Ah, here's a pretty good mission for a first-timer. It's a protection mission. I'll have a look through the other genin teams' records and see who else has applied for a C-rank mission. I'll have to trust in your judgement then, Kakashi. I know you won't let me down."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Kakashi saluted.

The Hokage looked towards Naruto.

"So, what do you think of the village, Naruto-kun?" Sarutobi asked. "You've only recently arrive here. Have you gotten used to it yet?"

Kiba feigned disinterest, though Naruto knew he was listening to every word they said. For some reason the dog-nin had always been curious of what the fox-nin's life was like before he came to Konoha.

"Well yeah, it's great not having to move around all the time." Naruto said. "And life in Konoha is a lot more stable than being a wander-nin. There's no worries about running out of clients and stuff... It's great."

The Sandaime smiled, looking a lot like somebody's favourite grandfather.

"Good, good. I heard from your father that you both used to live in the Wave?" The Sandaime asked. Naruto nodded. "Then it might be of interest to you that it's the destination of your client. You might be able to see your old neighbourhood again."

Naruto nodded.

"If that's all then, Hokage-sama." Kakashi said, and Sandaime nodded. The gray-haired jounin began to usher his students out of the room, before a loud explosion marked the entrance of something quite strange. The door to the room swung open, and standing on the other side was a short kid, probably still in the academy, wielding a sharpened kunai in one hand.

With a battlecry, he charged fowards, intent on bringing the Hokage down. Both Naruto and Kiba were about to interrupt, before Kakashi put down a hand on their shoulders, and made a motion for them to stop.

"Shh... Just watch."

The boy assassin seemed to be frothing at the mouth.

"DIE YOU OLD BASTARD!" The kid yelled. "TODAY'S THE DAY YOU'RE GOING DOWN AND THE DAY I'M GONNA FINALLY BECOME HOKAGE!"

The Sandaime sighed, and just returned to his paperwork. Moments before the boy was about to thrust the kunai into the old man's neck, he tripped over his own two feet and landed on the floor. The Hokage looked over the top of his desk.

"Must you always do this, Konohamaru?"

"Shut up, old man! Your stupid trap might've gotten me today, but I'll get you next time!" The black-haired boy yelled.

Naruto and Kiba looked at each other, incredulous, and Kakashi just shrugged. Shino was indifferent, as he always was, and Hinata just fidgeted.

Konohamaru looked around the room, before his eyes landed on the blonde fox-nin.

"YOU!"

Naruto pointed to himself.

"Me?"

"Yes! You! That was your trap, wasn't it? I thought so! Come over here, let see you duke it out with me like a man!"

Naruto stared, incredulous.

"But... you just tripped over yourself!"

"THAT'S WHAT YOU WANT ME TO THINK!"

Naruto looked around the room, as though begging for help. Kakashi shrugged, Kiba grinned, Shino as still indifferent, and Hinata blushed.

"C'mere! So you're too afraid to fight me, now that I know you're the one who set the trap! I knew it... Chicken! Chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken...!"

Naruto felt anger flaring up within his chest. He had learned a long time ago to control his emotions, but this kid was starting to piss him off. Nobody... not even a kid... dared call Uzumaki Naruto a coward and got away with it. Rolling up his sleeves, he made his way towards the kid.

"Alright! Bring it on, punk-wuss!" The kid cried, and launched into a boxing stance, making little jabs and crosses. Naruto looked at him and sweatdropped, he was hardly intimidating. Hinata giggled a little, the scene was kind of cute. "I'm gonna kick your ass so hard you're gonna be kissing the moon!"

Naruto sweatdropped again, and made a motion as if to punch the kid.

Suddenly, a jounin burst in from the doorway. He was wearing black sunglasses, and seemed to carry an elitist air.

"Young master, Konohamaru-sama!"

Naruto looked down at the kid, confused.

"Konohamaru-sama?"

The little pipsqueak grinned as if he was taunting him.

"That's right, I'm the Sandaime's grandson!"

Naruto looked at the Hokage, and the old man nodded, sighing. Then he looked back at his fist, and at the kid again.

Konohamaru grinned, cheekily. _That's right. Nobody would dare ever punch me after hearing something like that!_

"So? Like I give a shit."

And with that said, Naruto decked Konohamaru the hardest he had, and sent the little midget flying out the window and over yonder.

Kakashi groaned, Kiba grinned, Shino was _still _indifferent, Hinata gasped, the Hokage looked at the midget's exit point with a touch of relief on his face, and the jounin with black glassese that had just burst in turned white.

_**"DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"**_

"Yeah, I booted a spoiled brat out the window, big deal." Naruto said, and walked out the door, cool as you please. Kiba's grin had turned into all out laughter, Shino was-- you guessed it-- indifferent. Hinata was gaping, and Kakashi just shrugged. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

---

"Hey, I'm the super bridge-builder Tazuna, and you guys are the ones that are going to be protecting me?"

They were to meet the client outside the mission house, so that's where they went. The chubby old man in front of them, however, did not look like the type of bridge-builder that they had expected. After a few rounds of checking the photo ID and proving that the drunk old man in front of them was actually Tazuna the bridge-builder, finally they had sat down to listen to his story.

"Yeah." Kakashi said. "Though there will be another team joining us later."

"Right... Better be. Are you sure these kids are gonna be enough?" Tazuna asked.

Naruto could feel a little bit of irritation coming up, though it wasn't as bad as Kiba's seething. Seriously, the dog-nin could be really expressive when he wants to be, and all the other times too. Kakashi seemed to sense this too.

"Well, these are my students, and they're really very powerful." Kakashi said. "They aren't exactly jounin level, but for a C-rank mission, they will definitely be enough, and if all fails and worst comes to worst, I'll be sure to protect you and get you to your destination. After all, these are just bandits we're going to be dealing with, right?"

Naruto saw Tazuna twitch nervously at this proclamation, though he didn't think much of it.

"...Oh yeah, good then. When's the other team coming?" Tazuna asked.

Kakashi took a look at a watch that he had taken out of his pockets.

"Funny, they should be here right..."

Three shinobi appeared with a poof.

"...now." Kakashi finished. "How're you doing, Kurenai?"

The busty kunoichi ignored the silver-haired jounin, and surveyed his students. As her eyes passed over Hinata, Kiba, Shino, and Naruto, they seemed to take on a glint of recognition.

"So, these are the genin that took the bells from you?" Kurenai asked.

Kakashi coughed.

"Well, I went easy on them so..."

As the two jounin conversed, Naruto locked gazes with one of the genin that had come with Kurenai. Uchiha Sasuke stared back at him intently, and Naruto could feel his Bloodline Limit acting up again. This kid was filled with the spirit of revenge... It wasn't natural. There had to be something here... Not even the worst of betrayals could cause problems like this one.

"Hey." Naruto said.

Sasuke acknowledged his existence with a nod.

Both Kiba and Sakura looked between the two, as if sensing the tension and the imminent fight in the air. Moments passed, and neither did anything except look at each other. After a while they got bored, and started conversing with each other.

A period of uncomfortable silence followed.

"...You had better graduation marks than I did." Sasuke said, finally breaking the raging quiet.

"Oh, really?" Naruto asked. "Iruka-sensei didn't tell me what my marks were. All he told me was that I passed."

"...Student records are public. All you have to do is to ask for them." Sasuke said.

"Thanks for the info. Might wanna check up on that later." Naruto said.

There was another period of steady silence. Though it was a bit less awkward now.

"So... uh, is there any reason you wanted to talk to me?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke thought about this for a bit. Inwardly, he didn't know either. He had barely ever talked to this kid before, so why was he so interested in him? Going through all that trouble of tracking him down to talk with him, checking his marks... But deep down inside, he knew the reason. He just didn't know that he knew, that's all.

"How do you know so much about me?"

Naruto smiled slowly.

"Ah, so that's what you want to know." Naruto realized. "I know nothing about you, nothing at all. Maybe a bit, but that bit doesn't just apply to you. It applies to everyone around us, because we're all human. You've got the look of betrayal on you... It could either be you betraying or somebody that has betrayed you. It could be both. But it can't be neither."

Sasuke seemed genuinely disturbed by this proclamation. It hit a chord deep within him. He had been betrayed, and, with a little bit of shock, he knew he was willing to betray as well as long as he would be able to wrought revenge on the one that betrayed him.

"...I want to help you." Naruto said. "Everything happens for a reason. The day that I met you, when I sat down beside you on graduation day, I could tell that you're hurting. Betrayal is bad... not only for your mind and heart, but for the soul too."

Sasuke clenched his fist.

"...As for how I can tell... I guess you can call it a Bloodline. Anyway... nobody betrays without a reason. You're hurting because you don't understand why this person would betray you, right? You can't understand their reason, and so you are always confused. When you're confused you're easily taken advantage of, and so the spiral into darkness begins."

He didn't want to hear this, yet he couldn't get his body to stop.

"C'mon, Naruto!" Kakashi cried as he started walking away. "Pack your stuff and meet back here in thirty minutes. We'll be leaving then."

Naruto wove at the gray-haired jounin. Shino and Hinata had already gone to pack their belongings.

The fox-nin turned back to the Uchiha avenger, and said one final thing.

"Think about it. And when you've calmly and rationally thought about it, come talk to me."

And with that, Naruto started walking away too, leaving behind a weak-kneed Sasuke, his eyes wide and breathing fast. He felt his resolve begin to weaken, and realized, for the first time, somebody had challenged his ideal of vengeance.

---

"Oh, by the way." Kakashi said to Kurenai as they walked down the street together. "What about your third student?"

"Mononoke Konpaku?" Kurenai asked. "I don't know. I don't think I've ever met him before, and his name..."

"Really..." Kakashi said. "Haven't you heard about him in the academy?"

"That's the funny thing. There's no proof that he exists at all. There're no birth records, no students records... Nothing."

Kakashi thought about this for a second or two.

"Then why haven't you applied for another third member, if this one doesn't 'exist'?"

"Hokage-sama doesn't seem to accept this excuse, for some reason... It seems like some cosmic force is bent on making my team two member only."

Kakashi grinned.

"Yeah right, that sounds like something out of a bad novel."

Kurenai glared at him.

"I'm totally serious!" She cried. "And even if it was it's still better than that... that... _smut _you're always reading!"

Kakashi put a hand to his heart, as if he had been shot.

"What! Icha Icha Paradise is a wonder of modern literature!" Kakashi defended. "Jiraiya-sama's like the Shakesmaru of today!"

Kurenai just groaned.

---

**Mononoke Konpaku... I guess some of you will be wondering about him. Let me give you a hint here, Mononoke means 'specter', as in something that doesn't exist, and Konpaku means ghost. Happy wonderings! Oh, and don't worry, you'll see a lot more of Konohamaru later, and he won't be so spoilt after Naruto's finished with him.**

**By the way, Shakesmaru is a parody of Shakespeare.**

**Oh, by the way. Thanks for calling me a goody-two-shoes! That's the highest calibur of compliment I've ever heard. I pride myself on being a nice guy, you know!**


	7. Chapter 7: All Your Bridge

**AURA  
by Random Writer 46**

**---**

**Wow... the list of plotholes and sloppy writing just seems to get longer and longer doesn't it?**

**Well, first issue here I have to address. To the guy that asked if the Hakkyokuseiken clan taijutsu is the same as Fatal Fury's... well, I only have one thing to say to you. Double Reppuken!**

**Second issue, mostly caused by sloppy writing, is the second member of Team Kurenai. Sasuke is one of them, and Mononoke, who is never ever going to show up is the second, and the third? Well, I only mentioned her once in the last chapter, and that was all due to forgetfulness and playing videogames while writing. It's Sakura.**

**As for the five-man team thing that a reviewer sent in... It's really more of a six-man team, since you haven't counted Kurenai, and anyway this isn't a recon mission. This is a bodyguard mission, where the shinobi have to send their target to a destination safe and sound. So that means the more bodyguards there are, the more likely the mission is going to succeed. But I do concede, I should've thought out the team placements a bit more. It was a mistake on my part, but what's done is done, and it'd be impossible to change it all. Anyway, I think these teams work out fine. Fine in the broadest sense of the word of course.**

**The thing about the cultist guys being named after the days of the week... Well, that's true. Though my teacher taught me that it was Kaiyobi, instead of Kayobi. Thanks for the tip, though I think I should stick with what I've got since I've already written it down. Still, thanks.**

**Keep the reviews coming people! And the obsessive behaviour too! (If I get enough people addicted to the story do you think they'll start paying me to write this stuff?)**

**---**

**Chapter 7**

**--- **

"Alright then!" Tazuna cried. "We're all ready, right?"

Both Kakashi and Kurenai nodded, and made a motion for their students to follow. They exited the gates of Konoha quietly. It was now around two in the afternoon. Naruto hadn't packed much, just his essentials and a few books and scrolls to pour over when bored. He couldn't tell what Kiba had packed, but there was this funny smell of dog food in the air. Shino had packed nothing, and Hinata carried only a small backpack. Sasuke was shelfing along a pack roughly the size of Naruto's and Sakura was carrying a small suitcase. Neither Kakashi nor Kurenai seemed to be carrying anything visible, but Naruto credited that to elite jounin skills.

Tazuna was bumbling along, and the rest of them just followed obediently. After a short while however, Naruto was beginning to find things rather boring. There was really nothing he wanted to talk about with Kiba, Shino was just really silent, Hinata was still too shy to make any interesting conversation with, and the encounter with Sasuke really left him feeling a bit weird. There was still the itching feeling that there was something more to do with the Uchiha's urge for betrayal than just the simple need to pay somebody back.

Kakashi and Kurenai were talking with eachother, so the only one that was left was to talk with Sakura. (Sorry about last chapter, I meant to tell everybody that she as going to be a part of Sasuke's team but then I forgot.)

"Sakura-san." Naruto piped up beside her, and broke Sakura out of her thoughts. "Since we're going to be working together on this mission, and probably on more missions in the future, I thought I might introduce myself. Yaiba Naruto."

Sakura smiled.

"Haruno Sakura. Dozo." She said, and put out her hand. Naruto shook it. "I've never seen you before. Are you new?"

Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, Iruka-sensei said it didn't he? I used to be a wander-nin along with my father." Naruto said. "This is my first time in a community of shinobi. Actually, the Wave used to be my home."

"Oh, sorry." Sakura apologized. "I was kinda distracted then."

Naruto thought back to a few days ago when Sakura had been duking it out with Ino over the seat next to Sasuke and grinned.

"Yeah, I see." Naruto said, sagely. "Love conquers all, eh?"

Sakura had the decency to blush, and then, as lady-like as possible, sent him flying with her patented Cherry Tree Blossom Mega Punch.

---

"Ow... Sakura-san can really hit hard." Naruto said, rubbing his face gingerly.

They were sitting in their tent in the middle of a clearing. It had been determined that the girls got one tent, the boys got one tent, and the last tent would be occupied by both Kakashi and Tazuna, to sense out any would-be hired swords ready to slit a throat in the middle of the night.

Currently, they were opening up their sleeping bags, and were starting to settle down. Each one of them was fully dressed, of course, and had their weapons at arms reach. There was no guarantee that they wouldn't be attacked in the middle of the night, after all, and bandits were usually underhanded where shinobi were concerned.

"That's cause you pissed her off!" Kiba yelled from his place, where he was using Akamaru like a pillow. The dog had already gone to sleep. "What'd you expect?"

"I dunno..." Naruto said. "I didn't expect her to punch me."

Sasuke felt inclined to speak.

"...She's not always so violent." Everybody turned around to hear the usually silent Uchiha talk. "She's only like that to people that she feels comfortable with."

Kiba turned back to Naruto.

"That means she's okay with you, eh?" Kiba grinned. "You lady-killer, you!"

Naruto's frantic denial was completely overcome by Kiba's wild laughing. They spent the rest of the time before sleeping talking about various things, from the type of food that they liked to the best way to employ chakra in battles. Naruto also managed to find Kiba's hidden stash of Ninja: The Gathering decks, and played with each other a few rounds. They were tied at eight rounds won each before Kakashi practically yelled at them to sleep.

---

_"Look them down there..."_

Four shadows stood on top a branch overlooking the clearing that housed the tents and their occupants. The moonlight flashing down on them revealed their shinobi attire and the steel armguards tied together with silver chains. They wore hitai-ate that had the emblem of the Hidden Mist inscribed on them, though there was a large gash along each of the signs.

_"Unsuspecting... Easy hunt..." _The second shadow agreed.

_"Ready, brothers?" _The first asked. _"Two jounin there, bunch genin."_

_"Yes." _Another one, the third, said. _"Can't get too hard."_

With a silent hand signal, all four shadows flew into the air and landed beside the tents. They were here for the bridge-builder.

---

"Wake-up, Naruto."

The blonde fox-nin heard the sound of Shino's voice, and woke. He didn't dare move however. The only reason that Shino would be waking him up would be to warn him of something dangerous, and it might be a good idea to stay silent and still at the moment.

"Shino?"

"My bugs have detected intruders within our camp." Shino said silently. "I've already woken Kiba and Sasuke... they've gone out to intercept the enemy before they reach the tent where Kakashi-sensei and Tazuna are sleeping. We should be as quiet as possible."

Naruto nodded, and moved out of the sleeping bag without making a sound. He took his kunai pouch and strapped it to his leg immediately.

"What's the plan?" Naruto asked. "Should we help them intercept?"

"No, we're going for a pincer maneuvre right now... this is they need us to do..."

---

Kiba and Sasuke moved silently through the tall grass. Through the darkness of the night their improved ninja sense could see the faint movements of dark silhouttes against the night. Kiba could feel the intense need to engage them in battle, yet Sasuke's cooling presence managed to keep those feelings in check. There would be a time to engage them, and that time wasn't right now.

Silently, they crept after the shadowy missing-nin, prepared to fight at any moment if they even showed the slightest indication that they had noticed their presence.

_"What you say, brother?" _One of the shadows said, and Kiba had to strain his ears to hear what he was saying.

_"We set them up the bomb." _Another shadow said, and Kiba looked to Sasuke incredulously. The black-haired boy shrugged. _"They have no chance to survive."_

_"Set them up the bomb now, make their time."_

"That... that's Japanese, right?" Kiba whispered to Sasuke.

"Yeah, something like that." The avenger noted. "What kind of accent is that?"

"That's not an accent!" Kiba whispered savagely. "That's just really, really bad Japanese! What, did their moms drop them on their heads as children or something!"

"Shut up, idiot!" Sasuke said, but the damage was done.

The shadows turned around, staring the two genin in the face. Kiba noticed that they looked remarkably alike. Almost like... carbon copies...

_No way... quintuplets!_

_"How are you gentlemen!" _One of the shadows shouted, pointing towards them. _"Take off every shuriken!"_

_"They are on the way to destruction!" _Another one of them said. _"Move, brother, for great justice!"_

Sasuke grit his teeth, and decided it was now a good time.

"INTRUDERS!"

Instantly, the shadowy figures were stuck down to the ground by kikkai bugs.

_"What... what happen!"_

_"Somebody set us up the trap!" _Another one of them cried. _"We get insect!"_

"Shut up, dammit!" Kiba cried. "Learn proper Japanese or die!"

_"You shut up, ugly face dog!" _The one in lead yelled. _"Break out of bug formation, scatter!"_

"Ugly face dog!" Kiba roared in outrage. Sasuke was prepared to yell at his dog-like teammate for blowing their cover, but thought better of it. He had a reputation to keep, after all. "That's it! You're asking for it!"

With a burst of chakra, each one of them blew the kikkai bugs off their legs, and prepared to make towards the tent where Tazuna was being held. They would've gotten away with it too, had a bunch of Bunshin not appeared right at that moment and beat the one in lead to the ground. The rest of the brothers stared at the one in lead, before pulling out their shuriken and prepared to throw them at the Naruto clones.

They were not prepared for the fire ball that came crashing into their backs.

**"KATON: GOUKAKYU NO JUTSU!" **Sasuke cried, and launched the attack. The grand fireball slammed into the intruders, and sent them tumbling to the ground. The real Naruto appeared out of the midst of clones, and tied the intruders down to the ground with a chakra net.

Kakashi emerged from the tent he had been napping in, and stared at the Mist missing-nin.

"Wow... I catch up on some well-deserved rest for a second and a party starts without me."

He was treated to several ugly glares, courtesy of the boys.

_"I've fallen and I can't get up!"_

---

"So, you're here for Tazuna, then?" Kakashi asked.

They had moved the intruders from their place facedown on the ground, and had tied them to tree trunks with the help fo chakra ropes. The Mist missing-nin were glaring at them with the utmost hatred in their faces, and Naruto would've been intimidated had their hard command of the Japanese language not been so goddamn funny.

"Not tell, even get threat of death." The one in lead growled.

Kakashi rubbed his forehead. Yep, this was definitely it. The illiterate Demon Brothers of the Hidden Mist, famous for being impervious to torture and never leaking information out. The only reason that they had never let information out was mostly because nobody could ever really tell what they were talking about. Actually, that was the only reason that they had even been promoted to chuunin at all, they were still really just genin level. It was just his luck that they had been sent to try and take Tazuna.

"Even if you set us up the bomb."

Yep, he could really feel a migraine coming along. It was just like his terribly cruel students, leaving their poor jounin-sensei to deal with these tyrants. Nevermind the fact that they had risked life and limb to bring these guys in while he had been sleeping away without a single worry.

Kakashi got up from his position on the floor, and summoned up Pakkun with a touch of kuchiyose.

"Waddya need me for?" The little brown dog asked. Kakashi wrote a small note and passed it over.

"Please get this note back to Konoha, missing-nin department." The silver-haired jounin said. "We've found something that might be of interest to them."

Pakkun took a look at the beat missing-nins, and nodded.

"Alright then."

---

"Izzat it?" Kiba asked. Naruto nodded.

Last night, after the attack, Kakashi had made Tazuna spill everything. The silver-haired jounin was considering dropping the mission, but a good-natured Kurenai and Naruto had convinced him to at least assess the situation (and the guilt trip that Tazuna put them through was no motivation at all, of course). They were currently travelling on the river, courtesy of a friend of Tazuna's. The Wave was starting to come into view now...

"So, what's it like returning to the place where you lived all your life?" Sakura asked.

Naruto felt a little uncomfortable. There was a whole lot of attention being placed on him right then.

"Um... I dunno." Naruto said. "It didn't really feel like home anyway. We didn't really mingle with the locals."

Kiba poked him in the shoulder.

"Yeah, but you've lived here all your life, right?" Kiba said. "There's gotta be some attachment here!"

Naruto thought about this for a few seconds.

"Nope, not at all." Naruto said. "Heck, I didn't even know things were going so bad here. My dad was the one that got most of the supplies. I was mostly confined to the house. The only time that I ever really went out was on missions and stuff."

Sakura blanched. Kiba nodded.

"That's gotta suck." Kiba said, sagely. Naruto shrugged. It didn't really bother him that much.

They landed in the harbour, and each one of the shinobi and Tazuna got off. Standing around, they looked at their surroundings. The place was really broken-down now. Where there had probably been white, polished marble there was now just dirtied bricks. The streets were littered with filth and dirt, and children on the streets begged for food from the more fortunate ones.

"This... this is worse than I thought." Naruto said.

Kiba nodded.

"Yeah..."

"So you see?" Tazuna said. Kiba and Naruto turned around and stared Tazuna in the eye. "Gatou controls the Wave now... He doesn't care for its inhabitants. He realizes that the Wave is going down, but he doesn't care. But the inhabitants, people like me, we do. We will take back control from Gatou, and we will re-establish hope. And to do that, we're gonna need to finish the bridge."

He put his hands on Naruto's and Kiba's shoulders.

"I understand that you guys are a bit low-leveled to do a mission like this, but I'm begging you. The whole village together only managed to raise enough money to pay for a C-rank mission. If you guys don't protect us, this place is gonna die. Please."

Kiba didn't seem to know what to do, but Naruto had expected something like this.

"All you have to do is to build that bridge, and then the Wave can bloom, right?" Naruto asked.

Tazuna nodded.

"Yes."

Naruto thought about this for a bit.

"So, once you get the Wave back on its feet. Youll be able to make enough to cover the price of a B-rank mission?"

"Definitely, so you'll..." Tazuna could see where this was going, but wasn't willing to raise his hopes.

Naruto held out three fingers.

"On two conditions." Naruto said. "You pay back all the money, in little increments if you want, but it has all got to be there."

Tazuna nodded eagerly. All traces of the drunken old man was gone now.

"And the second condition?" Tazuna asked.

Naruto took a look at their surroundings again. The children begging on the streets, the rotting food that he could smell from here... There was bad feelings all over the place. How could he have not noticed all this. Deep within him, he felt a tinge of guilt and regret. If he had noticed all of this, maybe he could've helped...

"Actually, no." Naruto said. "Scratch the first condition. You don't have to pay us anything."

Both Kiba and Kakashi looked at Naruto sharply. Naruto just raised a finger to his lips. The sign for silence.

"My only condition, is that you will run for mayor." Naruto said. Tazuna looked at him, shocked. "You're doing this, risking life and limb to save this village, because you love it, don't you? The Wave needs somebody like that to help it get back on its feet when Gatou is dealt with. Nothing's going to be alright if you don't have a strong leader. The Wave needs somebody that loves their village, after something like Gatou. Those are my conditions, do you accept?"

Tazuna nodded, still in shock. Dimly, as though he wasn't there at the moment, he invited the ninja towards his house.

"What are you doing?" Kakashi asked Naruto as they passed.

"You can take it out of my pay."

Somewhere a little bit away...

"Naruto's a really nice guy, isn't he?" Sakura asked.

Kiba nodded.

Sakura thought about this for a bit, and smiled. She turned her eyes, back towards the black-haired avenger. She had realized it after all this time, why she was attracted to him.

She took a look at her surroundings, the way Naruto had done, and compared the looks on the people to the look on the Uchiha. She had looked beneath his mask, and had been surprised at what she had seen. Outwards, he was an glacier, cold and unmoving. Inside, he was a raging tornado, hurt and confused. She had seen Naruto talk to him, and she knew he was right.

He was hurting, and she wanted to help.


	8. Chapter 8: Tidal Wave

**AURA  
by Random Writer 46**

**---**

**Are you sure none of your guys liked the Zero-Wing spouting Demonic Brothers? Cause I loved writing their dialogue. 'All Your Base Are Belong To Us'... Heh, pure genius. Even if those guys that did the translation fluked it. Tell you the truth, they were gonna appear anyway, I just added the illiterate part to make them a bit more interesting. Quirky personalities are the way to go, baby!**

**People, people... The pairings still aren't decided yet. The part about Naruto being a lady-killer last chapter? That was just good fun. With all of you guys out there reading this thing, I'm not sure if I should have pairings. After all, I kind of want you guys to keep reading, and I'm sure I'll alienate people with pairings if there are any.**

**Oh yeah. Though you might have doubts about it after this chapter, Haku is not dead. Let me repeat, Haku is not dead. There, you guys happy?**

**I love writing this thing, and I'm surprised that I haven't gotten bored of it yet. That's what happened to my other (dead) stories. I think this time, the main difference is that I'm getting reviews constantly, most of them either encouraging me to continue or boosting my ego. Maybe this is the real reason I'm working hard to pump out a new chapter everyday. Anything to keep the readers happy! I happen to like the longer reviews the best, though.**

**With any luck, I'll be able to get this thing to 100,000 words.**

**---**

**Chapter 8**

**--- **

"Alright then." Kakashi said. "You might be wondering what you're doing here. Well, the short part is, I need to see your fighting styles and try to improve teamwork. I've realized that not a lot of you have shown each other all your skills yet, so that's what we need to do here."

Naruto nodded, it made sense. To tell the truth, he had only ever seen a few techniques of his teammates, a few of Kiba's, the Jyuuken style of Hinata's, and none of Shino's except for the fact that he used Kikkai bugs in battle. He really wanted to get to know his teammates, and maybe their techniques might speak more about them.

"Well then, first up is me, I guess." Kakashi said. "Lesse here... I've got the Sharingan..."

At his students' confused and wondering glances, he chose to elaborate.

"...Surgical operation, and don't ask how you might go about getting one. The person has to give permission for the Sharingan to not kill you, and all the Uchiha's are dead except for two."

Naruto wondered, was this part of the reason Sasuke was so bitter? And if Sasuke was one of them, then who was the other?

"...I've learnt over a thousand jutsus, maybe. I've never really counted."

His students sweatdropped. This man didn't know his own strength.

"That's about it. I can fill any situation in a battle. Taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, just say it. Next, Kiba."

Kiba grinned, and patted Akamaru on the head.

"My family specializes in beast-man techniques, jutsu that utilize Akamaru here and myself in battle. It makes me more animal-like, and a lot more powerful and faster. My techniques can also turn Akamaru into another me, so he can kick-ass in fights too!" Kiba said. "I know a few simple Doton jutsu, though I don't use them a lot. My main attack is Gatsuuga, yeah!"

"Very good." Kakashi said. "Next, Hinata."

The Hyuuga heiress blushed.

"Umm... I'm not the best, but I use my family's taijutsu style, Jyuuken." Hinata said. "My Byakugan allows me to see nearly three-sixty degrees, though I'm not sure exactly how far. I know some basic academy ninjutsu, but that's about it."

Naruto smiled to himself. She wasn't stuttering anymore! What an improvement.

"Alright, so that means both Kiba and Hinata need to work on their ninjutsu." Kakashi said. With Kiba's growl of irritation and Hinata's confused look, he felt like he needed to elaborate. "Both of you are taijutsu-heavy... That's not always going to work. Most taijutsu is close-range... How will you deal with long-ranger attackers? I'm not saying you need to be too balanced, but not being helpless would be a good idea."

Even Kiba had to agree that Kakashi made sense.

"Alright, next. Shino."

"...I use my kikkai bugs." Shino said. "I can use them to make clones of myself, attack enemies, and to scout. If Hinata and Kiba's weaknesses are long-range enemies, then my weakness would be close-range, as I don't have many taijutsu techniques."

"Glad to see you know your disadvantages. Naruto, you're up."

Naruto felt the eyes of his teammates and jounin-sensei on him, and suddenly felt very self-conscious.

"Ah, I incorporate a lot of Bunshins into my fighting style." Naruto said. "I can use them to scout, attack, defend, a lot of stuff. I have a pretty large arsenal, around thirty, of long-range jutsu, and enough chakra to use at least half of them before I get tired. I use my clan's taijutsu style," at the looks on their faces, he sighed. "My biological father's clan. So... I guess I'm pretty all-rounded."

Kakashi nodded.

"Good. Alright then, how about you help out Hinata and Kiba with their ninjutsu?" He asked. "I'll teach Shino some taijutsu, since you obviously can't just give away clan secrets, right?"

"Well, yeah..." Naruto said, wondering how he had gotten roped into doing a teacher's position.

---

"Alright then, guys..." Naruto said, uncomfortable. They were alone in the clearing now, with Kakashi taken Shino away somewhere else to train. "Umm, I'm not too sure what to do here, so I guess I'm gonna have to see your jutsu before I can really do anything about it. How about you show me some of yours first, Kiba?"

Kiba grinned his doggy grin.

"Yeah, yeah! Gimme a target!"

Naruto pondered a moment, before light bulb flashed ontop his head.

"Alright then, **Hagane Bunshin no Jutsu!"**

With that, a few Narutos popped up around them. One of them detached from the group, and walked over into the center of the clearing.

"That one." Naruto said, pointing at the lone Bunshin. Kiba flashed through a series of seals.

**"DOTON: SHINJUU ZANSHU NO JUTSU!"**

He slammed his hand into the ground, and suddenly Naruto felt his Bunshin sink, as if something was grabbing onto his legs. Though no matter how much he made his Bunshin struggle, it didn't help him when it sunk beneath the earth, leaving only its head up. The Hagane gave the real Naruto an angry look, and he just shrugged.

"Good work, Kiba." Naruto said, nodding. "Though I'm not sure that's what Kakashi-sensei as askign for when he said long-range..."

Kiba nodded.

"Yeah, I can see that. But the only other one I know is a Doton defense jutsu." He said, sheepishly.

Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, we're gonna have to work on that. You have an affinity for Doton jutsu, right?"

Kiba scratched his head, and Akamaru barked from the sidelines.

"Affini-wha?"

"An affinity. It's when you're better with a certain type of jutsu than another. Like how I'm good with Bunshins when my dad can't pull off Kage to save his life."

Kiba thought about this.

"Well, I guess so. That's probably why my mom only taught me Doton when she taught sis Katon..."

Naruto smiled. "Alright then, we know what you've got to work on. I've got just the thing here." And he produced a scroll from his vest. He threw it to Kiba, who caught it and flipped it open.

"A list of Doton jutsu?" Kiba asked.

"Yeah, you might want to study the theory a bit before you try practical. That's what works best for me, anyway."

Kiba looked at it dirtily, though he still sat down under a tree to study it. He didn't like theory, but hey, Naruto wouldn't steer him wrong, right? Funny how he had only known the guy for a week and was already like that. Reflecting, he noticed that Naruto had that influence on people.

_Smartass could probably make friend with a missing-nin too..._

---

"Alright, Hinata." Naruto said, slowly. "You don't use a lot of jutsu, do you?"

Hinata shook her head shyly. Naruto grinned.

"Well, we're gonna hafta fix that." Naruto said. "My dad always says that the only thing that diffrentiates a ninja from a martial artist is that they use more than taijutsu. I'm not saying taijutsu's bad, especially for people with no other options," he thought about Rock Lee and his determination, "...But a good shinobi has to use a mix, neither overspecializing nor being _too _balanced."

Hinata nodded, absorbing this information.

"Here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna teach you a list of useless jutsu, and you're going to tell me which ones you find the easiest to learn. Nine times out of ten that's your affinity, okay?" Naruto asked, and Hinata nodded again. This affinity talk was starting to interest her... Something that she could be good at, all her own... "Here's a list of them, I'll help you with any parts you don't understand."

---

_"Damn them... idiots..." _One of the illiterate Demonic Brothers said. He was Onitaro, the big brother. _"Set us up the trap..."_

The second brother, Youniro, was still unconscious. He was the one that had been beat to the ground by the blonde kid when they had tried raiding the camp, and was now currently sporting swirly eyes and a large bump on his head. The third brother, Gensanro, kicked him.

_"I think he get dead." _Gensanro reported. Akuyonro, the fourth brother, snorted.

_"He stupid idiot, die not easy." _Akuyonro said, and the brothers fell into silence.

Suddenly, they felt the presence of chakra behind them. For a second, Onitaro though it was maybe some reinforcements that the Leaf-nin had sent for before realizing who it was. He quickly calmed his near panicking brothers.

_"Up shut, idiots. Reinforcements come." _Onitaro said.

The shadowy figure nodded. Using a chakra-infused senbon, it quickly cut through their bindings.

_"Much thanks." _Onitaro said, rising up from his position. _"What big boss want for us?"_

"Even though you've failed, my master still hasn't gotten tired of you, apparently. Why didn't you unleash your full power?"

Onitaro chuckled. It was a dark, sinister sound.

_"Testing waters." _He said. _"Tough, yes, nothing can't handle."_

The figure sighed.

"Do you mean they're nothing you can't handle, or there's nothing they can't handle?" The figure said. "Start making sense, or I'll kill you."

_"You can't do that..." _Onitaro said, grinning darkly. _"You much too kind, Haku-san."_

_---_

"Why are you two eating so much?" Kakashi asked.

They were sitting around the Tazuna family's dinner table. Tsunami, the old bridgebuilder's daughter, had prepared a lot more food than they had expected from somebody that lived in a ruined country like this one. When asked why she had done this, all she had said was that she had placed a lot of faith on them, and expected them to eat enough to keep her father alive.

Naruto had been genuinely touched by this. It was really a pity that his father hadn't let him outside much back when he had been living here in the Wave... Maybe he would've gotten to know the locals a little bit better.

Kiba and Hinata, however, were shovelling food down their throats. Well, maybe only Kiba was shovelling, Hinata was just eating it the way she always did, except a little, well, maybe a lot faster.

"We need stamina to practice our jutsu with!" Kiba roared, like a dog slobbering after a piece of meat. "I can't practice if I don't got no chakra, man!"

"Ah, what Kiba-kun said." Hinata smiled, the eternal blush on her face, though this time it made her look rather cute than as if she had a sunburn that just wouldn't heal. "We need to get stronger. Those missing-nin that had been sent to kill us we defeated... Gatou wouldn't stand for that. We need to prepare ourselves for the next battle.

Kurenai wasn't really talking much, and neither was Sasuke or Sakura. It seemed like they each had their minds on something else. Kurenai was surveying Kakashi's students, and was wondering if he was willing to transfer one of them over to her team. Sasuke was thinking about revenge, and the words that Naruto had said. Sakura was, of course, thinking about Sasuke, except in a not-so-fangirly way.

They resumed their hyper-speed eating, and Naruto just smiled at their actions. They had a lot of enthusiasm, and that was something he liked.

Kakashi looked towards Naruto, then Kiba and Hinata, and finally Shino. Then he wondered what he was doing wrong.

"Why do you fight?" A voice asked.

Naruto turned around. The voice had come from the kid, probably Tsunami's son and Tazuna's grandson, the way they looked at him. He stared past Naruto, looking directly at Kiba and Hinata.

"Why do you fight?" He asked again.

Kiba swallowed the mouthful of rice he had been chewing.

"So we can win, stupid." He said, tactless as usual. Both Hinata and Naruto blanched, they would need to work on etiquette with Kiba. "We've gotta win, so the Wave can get back to what it used to be before Gatou came!"

Hinata nodded.

"That's why we fight." She agreed.

"Well, you're wrong!" The boy yelled. "What's the point of fighting when all that's gonna happen is that you're gonna get killed!"

It had quite an impact. Tazuna gripped his chopsticks and Tsunami's lips visibly tightened. Each of the shinobi had observed these actions, and wondered what exactly was going on.

"...Who says we're going to get killed?" Naruto asked.

Inari turned to look at them, anger in his eyes. "You are! Nobody can stand against those guys! They're going to kill you, and when he finds out who you are he's gonna make your family suffer too! What's the point of fighting when you're just going to lose!"

Tazuna's chopsticks broke in half with a hard snap, and Tsunami quickly replaced it with another pair.

"...How do you know we're gonna lose?" Naruto asked. "Have you ever tried fighting against them?"

Inari bit his tongue.

"...If you want to stay here and cry... It's okay." Naruto said. "I don't know what Gatou's put you through, but if you don't want to fight, then fine with me. I'll take care of it, so you don't... crybaby."

Inari's eyes widened, and he ran out of the room. The shinobi looked towards Naruto, who ignored them. Turning around, he addressed Tazuna and Tsunami.

"What's happened here?"

And so the entire story came out...

---

"...That's why he's lost hope." Tazuna said, looking at the picture that Tsunami carried in her hands. "Please don't blame him. It's not his fault."

Naruto looked at the two for a bit more, before putting down the bowl of food that he held.

"Thanks for the meal." He said, and stood up. Opening the door, he walked outside.

The cold air hit his face. It was a lot different from the warm atmosphere in the house, but he knew he had to do it.

"Where are you going?" Sakura exclaimed from her seat.

Naruto turned around, taking one last look before going into the woods where Kiba and Hinata had their training earlier.

"I'm going to prove to them that heroes exist. Don't wait up for me!" He said with a grin, and disappeared into the darkness of the night.

_---_

Everything was peaceful.

It was a new day. The birds were chirping, the grass was a fresh, lush green, and the breeze was nice. It was almost enough to keep Naruto from getting up from his comfortable position on the ground. Almost.

With a groan, Naruto opened his eyes. The sunlight streaming over his prone form was so comfortable...

"Hello there... Are you awake?"

Naruto rose. Quietly, he blinked his eyes trying to clear his vision. In front of him was the prettiest girl he had ever seen. She was wearing a kimono, and in her hand was a basket of herbs. Medicinal herbs, by the look of it. Naruto yawned.

"Ahhhhhh... Oh, hey." Naruto said. "What're you doing here?"

The girl smiled.

"This field holds the best herbs for wounds and injuries, did you know that?" She asked. "In fact, you're lying on a patch of them right now."

Naruto quickly stood up and moved out of the way, and watched as she began to gather up herbs that grew where he had been sleeping. As he stared at their crushed forms, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty. When the girl had finished, she stood up and faced him.

"...Hi, my name's Haku." The flower girl said, and reached out her hand. Naruto shook it.

"I'm Yaiba Naruto, shinobi of Konoha."

Haku rose a hand to her mouth. "Oh! That's rare. What's a Leaf-nin doing here?"

Naruto grinned.

"I was training, of course!" Naruto said. "I wanted to prove to somebody that heroes exist!"

Haku rose an eyebrow.

"...Heroes?" She questioned. Naruto felt obliged to explain.

---

"...Wow," said Haku. "That's quite a story you have going on there."

Naruto just smiled, and nodded his head. Silently, he went back down, and was soon facing the sky again. Haku sat down beside him.

"So, you believe heroes exist?" Haku asked. "How are you so sure?"

"Becaue there's proof." Naruto replied. "Heroes exist everywhere."

Haku smiled.

"Give me an example."

"The Nidaime Kazekage saved the Sand from a C-rank demon attack by sacrificing his four limbs, and afterwards, when the Hidden Grass attacked Suna when it was weak, sent his soul to hell to save his people and to erect an unbreakable sand barrier aroudn the village that lasted three years." Naruto recited. "The Yondaime Raikage. When his village was in danger of being drowned in the ocean, he created an army of Kumo Bunshin (Cloud Bunshin) that lifted the village up by its roots and flew it up into a mountain. The Yondaime Hokage, who gave his life to defeat the Kyuubi."

Haku's smile widened, and this time it reached her eyes.

"It seems like you've been doing a lot of research." She observed.

Naruto laughed. "I guess I've always had an interest in the Kages. I can't help it though. They're people to be respected... Their villages are so important to them, they'd give up their life to protect it. Their sacrifices... should be remembered."

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, Naruto just thinking and Haku sorting through her basket.

"...It sounds like you want to become Hokage." Haku noted.

Naruto blinked.

"Does it?"

"Yep, definitely." Haku smiled. "Do you want to become Hokage?"

Naruto thought about this.

"I don't know... do I?"

"Well, only you know, don't you." Haku said. "So you were training out here... What were you practicing?"

"Mostly my Bunshin jutsu..." Naruto trailed off.

Haku gazed around. "Really? From the marks on the trees it really seems like you were doing some intense training."

Naruto grinned.

"Nah, those are just my Bakuyaku Bunshin." He waved it off. "They explode."

Haku blinked.

"Oh."

They sat around some more in the same comfortable silence. Naruto was just enjoying the company of a new friend, while Haku realized she had never quite felt this comfortable around another person before, except maybe Zabuza. There was something about him, Haku realized... She never really felt it before. It was like he had the ability to make friends instantly.

Naruto didn't know how long they were there, not talking, and only thinking. Two people lost in their own private worlds. Before he knew it, it was time to go.

"Hey, yo!" Kiba yelled as he ran up to them. "Kakashi's waiting for you! It's our shift at guard duty!"

"Alright, coming!" Naruto cried, standing up.

Haku got up from her position, and brushed a bit of dirt off her kimono. "You're going then?"

Naruto nodded.

"Nice meeting you, Haku."

Haku smiled.

"Same here."

As the kimono-clad girl walked off, Kiba came up beside him.

"What was that guy doing here?" The dog-boy asked.

Naruto gazed at him, confused.

"What guy? I didn't see any guy here..."

"Dude, the guy that just walked off." Kiba said, swinging his arms around. "The guy that you were just talking to! What's his name, Haku?"

Naruto sweatdropped.

"Um, Kiba... Haku's a girl..."

"HA! That's what you think!" Kiba said. "I know that kind of guy! Acting all girly and shit, but then WHAM! When you ask them out on a date you find out he's actually a hairy guy underneath all that barbie nonsense!"

Naruto sweatdropped again.

"Really?"

"Yeah! Of course! I know their type!" Kiba said with a maniacal look in his eye. "Don't fall for it, buddy... Don't fall for it..."

Naruto felt _another _sweatdrop coming on, before curbing it to the side and letting a grin rise to the surface.

"Sounds like you have personal experience, Kiba." Naruto said, before running off laughing as Kiba screamed at him.

---

**P.S. Lesse here. I've been thinking of making a forum for this story and my other ones. What do you guys say? I guess it'll all really depend on the reviewers, since if nobody cares it's not gonna work, right?**


	9. Interlude: Baptism Rain

"Hey, your mother's worried." A lazy voice drawled.

Inari turned around, scrutinizing the middle-aged jounin standing beside him. There were currently at the harbour, and it was night-time. Naruto had finished his guard duty, and immediately went off to, in his own words, explore the Wave. He still hadn't come back yet.

Kakashi looked back at the kid in front of him. His eyes glinted with defiance and some restrained anger. Personally, the gray-haired jounin did not like he saw, though it was understandable after the story that Tsunami had told.

"What do you care?"

"Well, I don't really. But your mother does, and you should respect your parents. She's worried about you, you know." Kakashi said, and sat down besides Inari. The young boy seemed surprised, but hid it skillfully.

"Are you here to bring me back?"

Kakashi pulled out his little orange book, and shrugged.

"Like I told you, I personally don't care. What you do is your choice. I'm not going to interfere."

They spent their time in silence. Kakashi read through Icha Icha, re-reading some of his more preferred chapters, and Inari just sat there tossing pebbles into the ocean. The younger one didn't know how long they sat there, though he had an inkling that the older one did. But he didn't care enough to ask.

"Why... does he hate me so much?" Inari muttered softly.

"He doesn't."

The black-haired boy started suddenly. He wasn't even aware that he had made the comment. It was a product of his own musing, and he hadn't meant for it to escape his mouth.

"He likes you."

Inari took on an expression of mixed anger, surprise, and confusion.

"What do you mean? Didn't you hear how he talked to me? He doesn't understand me or like me!"

"Au contraire... He talked that way to you because he likes you. He doesn't understand you, but he tries. He has a father, much like you did. Somebody that cares enough about him to fight for him. He's trying to understand how it feels to lose somebody that close to you."

"The way that he talks to me... It's like he doesn't respect me at all...!"

"He doesn't."

Inari stopped.

"You have to win his respect." Kakashi said, and stood up, turning around. "Oh yeah, one thing kid. You might want to go back soon. It's going to rain."

And with that said, the jounin walked off towards the direction of Inari's home, his steps hardly making any sound.

---

Soon, the rain came down. Lightning rumbled and cracked, and the heavens opened its eyes and cried. The rain made splattering noises all over the little town, and out there, on that wooden harbour stood a boy.

This boy was standing.

This boy was standing.

For he was confused, he didn't know what to do. His mind was a sea of calm, and his soul was a maelstrom of emotions and feelings. Dark sensations coursed through his veins, like the water of a raging river. Guilt so dark he felt polluted, anger so hot he was boiling over, muddle so confused like a cyclone over water. Yet something had changed within himself.

But there was something raging in his heart, something that somebody had awakened. The dam to a sea of holy water had suddenly been destroyed, and he didn't feel cold at all.

And on the face of the standing boy stood drops of white water, falling like rain.

Something had been awakened.


	10. Chapter 9: Mistkrieg

**AURA  
by Random Writer 46**

**---**

**NOTICE: This is not the only chapter I've updated this time. There's a little interlude before this. **

Ahh... Sorry guys for being on hiatus for so long. I'm not sure I've gotten out of my blue funk yet, however, and this note will be kind of short. I hope you guys won't notice a few different things about this chapter, such as style or anything like that. It's been a while since I've even thought about Narutom, and my facts might be a bit muddled right now. I wouldn't even trust myself to remember what happened in the last few chapters!

This chapter is pretty short, but I've included an interlude before this, so make sure you guys read that first, eh?

Well, let's hope I'll be back on the ball soon, eh?

**---**

**Chapter 9: Mistkrieg  
**

**--- **

"What's going on?" Sakura mumbled to herself softly, as she watched the dying man gurgle in front of her.

The bridge was stained with blood. Well, the parts of it that could be seen by Kurenai's genin group. Construction workers lay scattered, dead and dying. There was no way that they could treat these people in time... Not without making sure that Tazuna was safe.

Sasuke was taking a look around at the place, carefully sniffing here and there, trying to determine what kind of enemies they were going to fight. Silently, he put a finger on the parts of the bridge that had been splattered with blood, and tasted it.

"It's been diluted with water..." The brooding avenger said softly. "There's a high chance that those idiots of the Mist that tried to attack us had been freed by somebody."

Kurenai nodded.

"We'll continue further down the bridge, sooner or later we'll come across Tazuna, and hopefully Kakashi-san's team as well. Let's move out!"

---

KA-BOOM.

"They're here..." Kakashi noted as the smoke slowly cleared. "Hinata, guard Tazuna as well as you could. Your Byakugan would provide a good scout for any dangers to Tazuna-san."

There, in the middle of the cloud of smoke, arrived two figures. Kiba and Shino instantly tensed up. It was a bad thing that Naruto wasn't here yet, but they could deal with that.

The silhoutte of a large sword could be seen easily through the debris in the air... and flying towards them.

---

"Surprise attack!" Kurenai called suddenly as a flurry of shuriken and kunai flew towards them.

Sasuke dropped into a fighting stance immediately and dodged. Using his kunai to deflect most of the volley that came towards him, he spared a quick glance towards Sakura. She had also dodged the attack, and was panting slightly. It was understandable after all, her body wasn't accustomed to fighting just yet.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Sasuke breathed, and flipped through a series of seals. Blowing a humongous fireball out of his mouth and towards the direction where the projectiles had come from, he forced their attackers into the open.

It was the brothers of the Mist.

"HYOUTON: MIZU ONIZAN!" Cried the one in the lead. Swinging his chained gauntlets towards Sasuke, he quickly made a few one-handed seals. Suddenly, water froze Sasuke's feet to the floor, and the chains were coming at him as fast as lightning.

_'Shit!' _Sasuke thought to himself. _'There's not enough time for me to make the seals for another Goukakyuu... I don't think my kunai and shuriken could protect myself against something like that either...'_

Yet he didn't need to do anything. Kurenai had burst in and sliced the chains off the gauntlet with a chakra-enhanced kunai, obviously intending to take the missing-nin's head as well. Onitaro of the Mist quickly bounded backwards, and landed amongst his brothers.

"I didn't need any help!" Sasuke hissed, and Kurenai ignored him.

Both teams realized they were at a standstill, and nobody was giving an inch.

---

"Eh...?" Naruto mumbled as he woke up. "Where's everybody?"

It had been a few days since his fight with Inari, and the subsequent meeting with Haku. He had trained both Kiba and Hinata as much as he could, and both of them had learnt plenty of powerful jutsu, well, as powerful as he could teach them anyway.

He yawned, and got out of bed.

'Eh? Where's my team?' He thought to himself, sleepily. 'Today morning... Oh yeah! We're on guard duty! Dammit, I hope Kakashi-sensei forgives me for being so goddamn late...!'

He leapt out of bed and quickly dressed. Opening the window, he was prepared to jump out of it and latch onto the tree branch when...

"Hey."

He turned around, and looked Inari straight in the eye. The young boyt was staring at him back, but not in the same way that he had before. Naruto couldn't describe it, it was just so... different. The boy in front of him was not the same one who had yelled at him a few days before.

"Yeah?" Naruto asked, his hurry gone.

Inari bit his lip, and tried to break eye contact with the young man in front of him.

"I'm... I'm sorry for yelling at you the way I did before. I hope you can forgive me."

And with that said, he bowed his head.

Needless to say, Naruto was surprised.

Stumbling around in his mind for a moment, trying to figure out what to say, Naruto stuttered. It was terribly Hinata-y of him, but he couldn't help it. There was something shocking about the kid a few days ago suddenly turning into something like this.

"It's... It's okay! I mean, there's no harm done or anything like that. And I'm sorry about yelling like that to you too." Naruto said, bumbling a little bit. He reached out his hand, and waited for Inari's reaction. "Friends?"

The boy didn't reach out for it.

"No, you were right." The boy said. "I'm weak, too weak to protect anybody but myself. My mother always sheltered me from things, and the money that my family makes keeps me from being on the streets. I'm so weak! I'm not like my father at all! I want to be able to protect everything that I have with my two hands, but I can't do it! I want to... I want to become stronger! I WANT TO BE ABLE TO PROTECT PEOPLE! PROTECT PEOPLE THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO ME!"

At the end of his outburst he stopped, and gathered his breath. The blonde fox-nin suddenly realized with a shock, that there were tears steaming down the younger boy's face.

"I'm... sorry for making you listen to all this. I'll be leaving now."

Just as he was about to step out of the room however...

"Wait!" Naruto cried. "Come over here."

Inari looked back at him, confused. He walked back to him. Suddenly, Naruto began rummaging around inside of his pouch, as if looking for something. Inari flinched instinctively as Naruto's hand came back out.

"Take it."

It was a kunai.


	11. Chapter 10: ACTIVATE

**AURA  
by Random Writer 46**

**---**

Whew... Too tired to put up an Author's note... Sorry guys, I still need some time to recover completely from Writer's Block...

**---**

**Chapter 10: -ACTIVATE-**

**--- **

Sasuke ducked as another kunai flew over his shoulder. He had engaged one of the Mist shinobi in battle, and the pair were now duking it out, no holds barred. The one particular shinobi he had decided to battle had chosen another weapon to bring to the battlefield, a type that Sasuke had rarely ever seen before.

It was a kind of harpoon used by fishermen, except tailored specfically to be used as a weapon, much like how a scythe could be changed from a simple harvesting tool into a weapon. There was a another enemy that also used the same, and Sakura was at the moment fighting with him. Kurenai had the other two shinobi to herself, something that Sasuke thought was inherently unfair. He wanted to fight with them, to test how far he had gotten.

He dodged another flurry of kunai, this time enhanced by chakra, as well as what seemed to be a Suiton version of his Goukakyuu. This was a little tougher than he had expected, but not by much.

_"You too easy... Break out stronger moves." _Rasped the Mist-nin in front of him. It was true. He didn't even seem to be trying his best. Maybe he was trying to gauge him before engaging him in real battle? Whatever the case was, the Mist-nin was right. It was time to stop playing around. _"Show what Konoha-nin like. Fight real!"_

With that, he suddenly seemed to gain an increased amount of speed. Dashing through to Sasuke as quick as a greased eel, he slammed the blunt side of the harpoon into Sasuke's side. The black-haired avenger gasped, and bounced back, holding his injured area.

"If you want to know what a Leaf-nin fights like... Then I'll show you!" Sasuke roared.

He hadn't been slacking off either.

Charging towards the demon brother with equal, if not even more speed, he slammed his palm into his face. The Mist-nin hit the ground with a hard thump, dropping his harpoon. Sasuke quickly picked it up, and grasped onto it. He wasn't exactly familiar with how it worked, but he supposed it could be used like any other polearm.

The black-haired nukenin however had already regained his footing.

_"Not bad! Exactly what expected of Leaf-nin!" _He cried with glee, and started making seals for another Suiton jutsu. "SUITON: TEPPODAMA!" (Water Release: Gunshot)

Sasuke dodged the bullet-like water shot that came out of the shinobi's mouth. It flew backwards, slamming into the structures that Tazuna's workers had spent so much of their time working on, yet Sasuke wasn't one to care. It was the perfect opportunity for him...

With careful aiming, he threw the harpoon as hard as possible towards the Mist-nin, and charged.

---

Sakura panted to herself as she stooped to catch her breath. In her hands were shuriken, as she knew better than to engage the nukenin in front of herself in close combat. Not with that large polearm-like weapon that he was carrying.

From the start of the battle, she had been starting to lose. The nukenin had been chuunin-level for a reason, and that reason was because he was a bit better than the average genin. She herself was not that strong of a genin, lending to her disadvantage. Also, while she didn't specialize in anything, he was exactly where he needed to be to unleash his full potential.

The bridge.

From the start, he had been bombarding her with simple Suiton jutsu. Most of them had been weak and slow enough for her to dodge, but the goal of the enemy seemed to be simply wearing her down with quantity over quality, and she was loathe to admit it, but it was working. She was the one amongst them with the lowest chakra and stamina after all.

But there was something that Kurenai-sensei had taught her. Something that would be able to help her out in this battle.

"Magen: Jubaku Satsu!" She whispered to herself, and melted away into thin air.

The Mist-nin stopped in his tracks as roots suddenly started growing out of the ground and bound his feet.

---

_'Dammit...!' _Naruto thought to himself as he bounded through the forest towards where he remembered the bridge to be. _'If I don't get there soon Kakashi-sensei's goikng to kill me...!'_

In his haste, he didn't notice the dead boar that lay at the bottom of the forest, cut and rotting.

---

Inari sniffed as he looked at the kunai in his hand. It was of a strange variety, not the kind that he had seen those other ninja using. It was made of a strange material... White like marble, and tough like steel. Tied one the end without the blade was a strip of white cloth.

As he touched it, he couldn't help but feel something within him. Every groove, every notch... It just sank into his mind and wouldn't leave. He felt like this was something that belonged in his hand. As he held it, even swung it around a little bit, he felt a connection with this weapon. A connection like he'd never had with anything before.

It was kind of scary, becoming so attached to something that shed blood. It was also, for some reason, comforting. It was something that he could use to protect, something that he could use to defend. Something that he could use to save.

Suddenly, he heard his mother's screams coming from the kitchen, and nearly dropped it.

---

"_HOAAAAAHHHH!" _The nukenin screamed as he slammed the side of the harpoon onto Sasuke's head, slamming him onto the ground.

Sasuke gasped as he was struck again in the side by the harpoon. Throwing the large polearm back to the nukenin had been an immensely bad idea. He had suddenly gained massive speed after a jutsu, and seemed to be leaving afterimages of himself where he went. The black-haired avenger was starting to get beat down, and didn't have the chance to fight back.

Suddenly, he felt somebody lift him up by the collar, and there he was, staring into the eyes of the nukenin.

"_It's been interesting... Leaf-nin." _Rasped the demonic brother, his eyes glowing with maddened frenzy. _"It's time to part, however. See you in hell."_

Sasuke wondered to himself as he was thrown high up into the air... Was it just him, or did that guy just speak perfect Japanese?

However, that thought was instantly blown out of his mind when he saw the harpoon being launched at him.

It was too fast, there was no time to react.

He was going to die.

As the polearm neared him, he saw a lot of things. His life flashed before his eyes. The training periods he had with his aniki, every time he forgot his promise. The massacre of the Uchiha, and the death of his parents. His training at the academy, and all of his weakling teammates.

He saw his graduation, and the first time that he met Kurenai.

He saw his bell test, with only one bell.

He saw the end of the exam, Kurenai-sensei's proud face.

He saw Sakura's crying face after a particularly bad C-mission.

He saw the faces of his comrades, the ones that were working alongside him on this mission.

He saw kindness, something he realized had been around him all that time.

He saw companionship, something that he had discarded for so long.

But most importantly, he saw red.

---

It was over for her. Her Genjutsu had been broken.

She stood, proud and diminishing in front of her opponent. He stood, wielding that same large harpoon over her head. Within a few seconds, she knew what would happen. The harpoon would come down, bisecting her from head to foot, and there was nothing she could do. Her legs had both been injured by the Mist-nin's Suiton jutsu, and it was hard even for her to move at civilian speed.

_"You fought well... But don't worry. Thanks for entertaining me. Your death will be quick."_

She closed her eyes, and waited for the final blow to come.

However, it didn't.

When she opened her eyes again, there stood the same nukenin she had been fighting, except his expression was strange. He seemed to be looking at something sticking out of his stomach, and Sakura saw what it was. A large harpoon, the same type that he was wielding in his hands.

_"So... Gensanro... lost..." _He gurgled, before hitting the floor with a thump.

Sakura gave a small scream.

Behind him stood Sasuke. Except instead of the black-eyed Sasuke Sakura was used to, this Sasuke had red eyes. He was breathing hard, and there were bruises and scratches all over his body including a rather bad one down his left arm, but he was alive. And off in the distance the body of another demon brother could be seen cooling on the bridge.

"Are... you alright, Sakura?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura nodded, mutely, disbelieving.

And then, something miraculous happened.

Sasuke smiled.

"Good." He said, even though it was obvious that it was hard for him. "S--Strange... Both of them... spoke proper Japanese... right before they died..."

And with that, he hit the floor with a thud, his eyes closing for possibly the last time ever.

Sakura ran to his side without question, and began applying first-aid.

---

"Inari! Run!" Tsunami cried. The two thugs held her down tightly. "If you two kill him, then I'll kill myself! You two need a hostage, right? So don't you touch him!"

"Hmmm... We've got quite the tough one here, eh?" One of the thugs, the one in the lead grinned. He turned towards Inari, who was sitting, cradling his cheek where the had kicked him. "Alright then kid, thank your mother here. It's thanks to her that you're going to live today. Go on! Get out of here!"

Inari stood up, shakily. But his mind was already made up.

There would be no running away today.

He gripped the handle of the kunai behind him, and launched it.

And then all he could see was white.

---

If anyone was standing outside of the Tazuna household at the moment, they would've heard the sounds of waves hitting the shore, the shrieks of seagulls high above, in the sky, and maybe the whoosing of wind.

Except the sea was calm, the seagulls had already migrated, and there was no breeze today.

And then came a pillar of light, so bright that everything was enveloped. It shot up from the Tazuna household, and parted the clouds that it came across like an ascending angel. The clouds swirled around the pillar, as if they didn't feel worthy to touch it, and soon the pillar was gone.

_The Holy Shark has been revived.._


	12. Chapter 11: Bridge of Dreams

**AURA  
by Random Writer 46**

**---**

Alright! I'm good to go!

Thanks to everybody who replied! Most authors like longer reviews, but all are welcome, you know? I particularly like reviews that tell me what exactly they like about my story, and parts of my story that they're confused about. I've been recovering from both a cold and writer's block, and it was only with the reading of several good Naruto fics (not telling ya which ones) that helped me to get back to writing this story! Now for a few issues that you guys brought up...

Numbah 1: I definitely know Haku is a guy. I just wanted to show you guys that Naruto didn't know about him yet though. And Kiba just likes to exaggerate.

Number 2: Naruto's Bloodline... It's not a very powerful Bloodline, that's for sure. It's only good use is out of battle scenarios and against other Bloodlines. So he's the genius-killer, and a person who really relies on Lee could defeat him easier than somebody who relies on their Bloodlines.

Number 3: Me, myself? I don't really like angsty fics. So Naruto won't be angsty, or if he will, it'll only be shortly.

Number 4: About Inari... Nah, I'll let you guys figure it out for yourselves! (Oh, and the Jinchuriki idea? I'll leave that all up to you...)

Number 5: Umm... there's gonna be no yaoi. I'm a straight guy, so I can't really relate... Not that there's anything wrong with it, of course.

**---**

**Chapter 11: Bridge of Dreams Return to Innocence**

**--- **

"Scatter!" Kakashi cried, and avoided the flying blade by rolling into a crouch sideways. The blade streaked through the concrete ground and flew back where it had come from and landed in the hand of a certain missing-nin.

His hair was covered by a Mist headband, and his body and face were both covered in bandages and clothing. At his side was a smaller figure, who wore a mask and held a few senbon in his hand. By the time that Kakashi had finished rolling and landed, Kiba, Shino, Tazuna, and Hinata were all gone.

"Ahh... Just what I had expected from Hatake Kakashi, the Copy-cat Nin," said the figure in the lead with a gruff-sounding voice. "You are an S-class nin, highly dangerous, listed in the Bingo Book as one of the more powerful shinobi, aren't you?"

Kakashi perked up.

"Ara, ara. So you know me." The gray-haired nin said. He was stalling for time, waiting for Hinata to get Tazuna to somewhere safe before coming back to help fight. "To whom may I owe this pleasure?"

"My name is Momochi Zabuza... But first." The Mist-nin said, wielding his gigantic meat cleaver with ease. He motioned to the still boy beside him. "Haku, chase them down before they run too far. Try to take them down one by one."

"Hai, Zabuza-san," said the boy curtly, before flickering away in a splash of water.

Kakashi cursed, this was exactly what he didn't want them to do. Just as he was prepared to go after them himself however, he was stopped in his tracks by the gigantic sword that had just buried itself where he had been standing a few seconds ago.

"I don't think so, Kakashi!"

Zabuza appeared in front of him, grabbing the gigantic weapon by its handle and swinging again.

"Your opponent... IS ME!"

Kakashi dodged the second swing as it passed by over his head, but not without clipping several strands of his own silver hair. Taking the chance as Zabuza regathered his balance after swinging the sword, he slammed his knee into the other jounin's gut, and gave him a brutal taijutsu bash that sent him flying.

"You're really persistent." Kakashi said. "Momochi Zabuza of the Mist, who was exiled after attempting a coup to overthrow the Mizukage himself several years ago. Many of us thought that you had died after the hunter-nin started coming after you, commanded by the son of the Mizukage himself."

Zabuza righted himself, and even through the bandaged mask, it was easy to see that he was frowning.

"Haha... So you do know about me. Well, the son of the Mizukage was a damn fool. He never saw it coming," spat the exiled Mist-nin. "As for the persistent part... Well, even missing-nin have to uphold their reputation you know. Otherwise nobody would hire us. So far I've had a 100 completion rate, and I'm not letting you ruin it for me!"

He raised his sword again, and charged forwards. Kakashi met him head on with a kunai of his own.

The clash of the titans had begun.

---

"What's wrong, girl?" Tazuna asked Hinata as they came to a stop in the middle of the bridge. They weren't too far off from where Sasuke and friends had been duking it out with the demonic brothers of the Mist, but they didn't know that.

Hinata had been carrying the older man when they had been running from the arena of the soon-to-be battle, but now she knew it was useless. There was somebody else arriving... Somebody who's speed way surpassed her's. She could feel his presence, and suddenly, there he was.

A splash of water signalled his arrival, and the toss of senbon punctuated it. Hinata instinctively deflected the flying needles with her Jyuuken, gazing at the new arrival nervously.

"So you are the one that they assigned to defend the bridge-builder?" The boy with the hunter-nin mask asked. "A Hyuuga, eh. It looks like they're pulling out all the stops. But where are your companions? Have they abandoned you? Well, it doesn't matter. Once I'm done with you, I'll kill the bridge-builder. Then Zabuza-san's mission will be complete."

Hinata barely had any time to react before the boy approached her at insane speeds and kicked her to the side.

"...Or maybe, I should just take care of you now." The boy said, staring at Tazuna, who was trembling and frozen in fear. "Yes, that seems like a better choice."

Hinata knew that was the moment she had been waiting for.

"Now! Kiba-kun! Shino-kun!" She cried.

Two spinning cyclones suddenly came charging towards Haku. The boy turned around, looking at the incoming tornadoes of fang and fury, before quickly jumping into the air to dodge. However, he didn't notice the swarm of kikkai bugs that were coming up from behind him.

He suddenly felt them travelling up his arms, and hit the ground. Quickly flipping through a few seals, he drenched himself in water, effectively washing off each and every single one of the kikkai bugs.

"So, you weren't the only one here... A decoy technique." Haku observed.

Kiba grinned, both him and a morphed Akamaru standing, already finished from their Gatsuuga.

"That's right! No proper Leaf-nin would ever leave one of their comrades behind! Of course, no missing-nin would ever understand that, traitors of the Mist!"

Shino stood beside them, the kikkai bugs already returning to him. He was silent, yet there was an obvious tinge of something around him. He was uneasy.

The Mist-nin shook his head.

"Don't think it'll be that easy. Ikuzou!"

A shower of senbon suddenly sprouted from his arms, too fast to see. Kiba and Akamaru hit the floor and ducked, and Shino managed to use his bugs to deflect the senbon. Hinata had done what she had before, and also deflected the senbon with her Jyuuken.

And then suddenly, they realized. The boy was gone.

---

"Why did you do it?" Kakashi asked as they engaged in battle. They were currently in a deadlock, kunai against giant sword. "Why did you decide to try and throw the Mizukage from his proper position? You knew there was no chance of something like that happening, so why?"

Zabuza spat as he broke the standstill and retrived his sword, making Kakashi lose his balance slightly. He swung horizontally, which Kakashi dodged by hopping backwards slightly.

"The Mizukage was being weak. Even you should know about the horrifying entry exams that students had to take before becoming Genin! I was one of them, and that was how I managed to attain my name of Demon of the Mist. However, in recent years, the more horrifying parts of the ninja life was downplayed..." Zabuza roared. "I wanted to take the village by its reigns and return it to its roots!"

Kakashi dodged another swing from the large cleaver that was Zabuza's weapon.

"Hmph, you're a tough one." The gray-haired said. "Times change and so do people. The ninja villages nowadays are not the same kind that existed five hundred years ago. Shinobi are not the ruthless killing machines that you make them out to be, and that's why your village has its name of the Bloody Mist. Let me show you..."

With that, he pulled his headband upwards, showing off his red eye.

"...Ahh... The Sharingan. What a honour it is to be confronted like this." Zabuza said. "And so early too... It looks like it's going to be a good day for me!"

With that, he swung his sword at Kakashi again, and started making a series of seals.

"KAGE SHURIKEN NO JUTSU!" He cried, and the one cleaver became many, all dashing towards Kakashi with the wrath of demons. "Let's see how many of my swords you can block before the rest chop you to pieces!"

Kakashi jumped, and suddenly charged into the maelstrom of blades, landing on the other side unscathed.

"You... underestimate the power of the Sharingan eye." Kakashi noted duly.

"Not as much as you'd like to think." Zabuza said, and made a hand motion. The sound of whirring blades returned, and Kakashi looked back. The many blades that he had just passed by had suddenly came back, and they were on a direct course with him.

Kakashi looked at the barrage unafraid, and flipped through a series of seals.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" He cried, and launched a large fireball at the storm of blades, engulfing the bunch. Only one came out, and of course, that was the original. Suddenly, he felt something smash into the back of his head, and just realized it was Zabuza's elbow. He crashed into the ground, dropping the sword.

"You underestimate me! Copycat Nin!"

Kakashi felt through his mask where his chin would be, and took a look at his fingers. Crimson liquid was dripping down his hand.

---

"Hijutsu: Sensatsu Suishou!"

The hail of miniature icicles definitely would've penetrated Kiba had Akamaru not pulled him away in time, still in his human form. The dog boy gasped, feeling the pain where several senbon had penetrated his skin and dug deep into his leg.

Hinata looked at her teammate worriedly, and that moment was all that Haku needed. The boy from the Mist darted forwards and planted a leg into Hinata's gut, sending her flying back. It was only through Shino that she landed, unharmed, ontop a swarm of kikkai bugs.

But Shino was not without damages of his own. His left arm was frozen, and his bugs were trying to fix that as fast as they could. The boy that was fighting them was quite a handful, and seemed to possess an ability that allowed him to control ice. His proficiency with one-handed seals was also something to take note of, being a specialty of the Mist.

Suddenly, the white-masked boy put on a burst of speed, and grabbed Kiba by the collar, kicking Akamaru away from him.

"Well... I better finish off you off then so I can get back to accomplishing my mission." Haku said coldly, and Kiba just growled at him. "And to keep you two from hindering me... I'll take you out of commission first."

And with that, he threw several senbon. But his throwing technique was completely different. The senbon attained suddenly impossible speeds, and penetrated both Shino and Hinata's skin. The Hyuuga heiress stared at the points where the silvery needles sank into her flesh, and stared back at the Mist-nin. Then suddenly, she hit the floor with a thump. Shino did the same.

"Shino! Hinata!" Kiba cried, turning back to the masked bastard. "What the hell did you do to my teammates, you freak!"

Haku held out a senbon. With a few seals, ice suddenly started growing on the needle, enlarging it until it was around the size of a katana. Making a few practice motions, he sliced a few lines across the floor of the bridge. Kiba struggled even more as he saw the large slash marks that the nukenin boy had effortlessly made against the hard concrete.

"Nothing you need to worry about," replied the masked boy coldly. "There's no point in telling something to somebody who's already dead."

Haku raised the ice sword above his head, and swung downwards.

**KA-BOOM.**

Suddenly, the battlefield was alight with fire.

---

'_Dammit!' _Kakashi thought to himself angrily as Zabuza made several seals. A large water dragon erupted out of the water underneath the brudge and charged up the supports, swinging itself onto the battlefield and charging at the gray-haired jounin. _'I don't know how he did it... But he's found out the weaknesses of the Sharingan already! Where...? I never even used it during this mission!'_

Zabuza noticed the expression on Kakashi's face.

"My tool... The one that I sent after your subordinates. He's a wily one." Zabuza said, grinning fiercely. "There's nothing that he does better than information gathering, other than combat and assassinations. When I heard from the Baka Kyoudai (idiotic brothers) that Sharingan Kakashi had been sent on this mission, I immediately told Haku to gather information about that repugnant Bloodline. What he did wasn't just gather information about it, he also managed to find information about how to counter it!"

Suddenly, Zabuza charged towards Kakashi straight alongside his large aquatic dragon.

"You'll realize...! That never once since the start of the battle... did I look into your eyes!"

Kakashi's eyes widened in realization, before suddenly getting bisected by Zabuza's sword. The remnants of his body puffed into smoke, and the large water dragon that Zabuza had summoned up began charging towards the underside of the bridge. There was a loud crash, and Kakashi suddenly appeared back ontop of the bridge, hunched over and with a kunai in his hand.

Kakashi cursed, silently, and flew in, once again.

This time, there would be no running. By the end, there would only be one of them left alive.

Suddenly, a shockwave went through the bridge.

---

Haku raised his arm and covered his eyes as the explosion broke. However, that had been a mistake. The moment that he had raised his hand, a figure had dashed by and snatched his target away from him.

As the explosion finished and the smoke cleared, he lowered his arm, looking towards the figure who had snatched his kill away from him. The stranger was wearing bright orange, and was laying the dog boy in his arms beside his stunned companions. The little dog had morphed back into its rightful shape, and was barking at the injured body of his master.

Kiba spoke hesitantly and softly, as if he was in pain.

"Hey... You-- you finally got here, eh?" He said, and groaned in pain as Akamaru accidently nudged one of the needles lodged in his body. "Can-- can you take care of him without our help?"

The figure who he was talking to, the one with his back to Haku himself, nodded, and from what he could see, smiled. The dog boy on the floor smiled in reply, and then suddenly he was out cold, unable to hold against the powerful paralyzing condition that Haku had put him in.

"Who are you?" Haku asked, preparing his senbon.

The figure turned around, and Haku's eyes opened a bit wider behind the mask. It was the orange-wearing shinobi tha the had met on the grassy field that morning. The shinobi looked at him with equal parts anger and equal parts hate, a direct contrast from the way that he had treated his friend.

Suddenly, his gaze focused, he calmed.

Looking upwards, he enunciated, loud and clear.

"Your worst nightmare."

Uzumaki Naruto had pronounced the sentence, and now it was time to carry it out.


	13. Interlude: Legend of the Holy Shark

**AURA  
by Random Writer 46**

**---**

Thanks for the reviews people, and I'm kind of bushed! I might spend a little more time on the next chapter, but I hope you guys will forgive me for that! And I just recently, re-reading through my previous chapters and repeated mentioning by reviewers, realized that my Naruto might be a bit too Mary Sue-y. Well, I'm not quite sure how to go about fixing that right now, but be sure that I will!

Oh, and I realize that Haku was kind of OOC. I'll get around to fixing that too, promise!

**---**

**Interlude: Legend of the Holy Shark**

**--- **

_An eight-year old Naruto trudged through the woods, alone and silent in his thoughts. What he had read on the scroll that his father had given to him for his birthday had shocked him, and he wanted some time alone. There was no way he could stay where his foster-father was... since the scroll itself had partly been about him._

_He was confused, bewildered._

_And it was a question why he had found himself to this place, this temple in the middle of nowhere._

_He had spotted it a mile away on the cliff edge near the ocean. The moment he had seen its thatched roof the building had attracted him for some reason, and he wanted to go near it. He wanted to see what it was, what it was made of. Why was he like that with just one single look?_

_He had gotten down from where he had been standing, and travelled through the forest to the building. The survival skills that his father had taught him had helped immensely with lasting the amount of time he had spent in the wilderness, away from society._

_When he found that flight of stairs in the clearing, the one that lead up to the large building, the one that he could see now to be a temple, he was compelled to go up. The eight-year old mind that he was couldn't resist, and he walked up, and here he was, standing in front of the large double-doors, afraid to enter._

_The entire premise had an air of being forgotten, of being archaic beyond ages. Something inside him resonated with the pulses, though he didn't understand what was going on. Red chakra had started gathering around him, when the double-doors started opening._

_His throat clenched, as the doors opened inwards with their click-clack sound. _

_"Sonny, what are you doing here?"_

_Suddenly, in front of him, stood an old man._

_He was a small person, a hobbled little stranger with a knobbed cane in one hand. White hair flowed down his shoulders and downwards. He was wearing a white robe, and looked like something out a fairy tale. His dim, yet beautiful green eyes peeked out curiously from under white brows at the youngster in orange in front of him._

_"Oh boy, oh boy! You're all covered with dirt and grime! Come in here, we'll tidy you up and fix you a quick meal. Youngsters like you shouldn't be so far out in the wilderness. A bit of nature's good, but to sample it to such an extent... well. What have you been doing to yourself?"_

_"Um, it's okay, ojisan." Naruto found himself saying, a little surprised. "I don't wanna cause too much trouble..."_

_Even young, manners had been drilled into him by his father._

_"Nonsense, what sort of trouble could a young'un like you cause?" The old man said, busy gentling prodding the blonde fox-boy inwards with his cane. "Come on in, there's a shower down the left corridor, you can find it for yourself. I'll go prepare a small meal for both of us, I'm pretty hungry myself..."_

_Young Naruto's protests were ignored._

_---_

_"What are you doing, living out here all the way, ojisan?" Naruto asked the old man who he was sitting beside. In his hand he held a pair of chopsticks, and he had been halfway through eating a dumpling when he had thought of the question._

_After the old man had gently forced him into the temple, he had been ushered into the washroom and told to take a bath. Slightly embarassed, yet as sure of the man's hospitality as an eight-year old could be, he quickly washed himself and stepped out. His grime-ridden clothing had seemingly been magically cleaned, and was left on the floor folded and looking as good as the day they were made._

_Now he was in the courtyard of the temple, sitting beside the kind old man, eating a simple meal consisting a few oriental dishes. Too bad there weren't noodles of any kind, though._

_The old man caught his questioning glance, and laughed heartily. It was strange, something like that coming out of a body so small. Naruto found himself staring, before his heavily-ingrained manners suddenly popped up and forced him to turn away._

_"Well... when a body gets old, the first thing that goes is the senses. I couldn't handle all that noise in the city, so I decided to move out back. This temple here, you see? I made it with my own two hands. Alas, that was around twenty years ago..." The old man said wistfully. "Now, you might doubt that the old man in front of you, but keep in mind that I wasn't this old twenty years ago."_

_Naruto stared at the old man half his size in disbelief._

_The old man gave another bout of hearty laughter._

_"I've been living out here ever since... It's not that bad." He said, grinning._

_"But...! Isn't it boring?" Naruto asked, the drilled-in manners breaking their hold for a second. "I mean, there's not even anything you could do out here! Isn't it better to live somewhere with more people, so you could talk to them and stuff?"_

_"Nah, there's a lot here to talk to," said the midget elder. "The birds talk in their own way, chirping and singing. Birdsong has magical healing qualities, you know. The woodland critters all talk in their own way, their circle of life. The flowers and plants can communicate too, you know. I do it all the time."_

_Naruto stared at the old man as if he was crazy._

_---_

_It was there that Naruto stayed for a few days. He trained daily in the courtyard, the old man giving advice with skills every now and then. It turned out that the old man, who's name was Seisame, had been a ninja in his youth and was quite proficient still in coaching._

_He had learnt several techniques of his father's taijutsu style, the Hakkyokuseiken. The old man had proven also to be a pretty good sparring partner for the eight-year old, constantly using his cane like a sword in kenjutsu. Most of his attacks and jutsu were water-based, and didn't cause any serious damage to the younger boy except cause a small cold, for which the older man had brewed up a cup of medicine and instantly cured._

_The second day after Naruto's arrival in the temple, Seisame had suddenly grown interested in the reason that Naruto was out here. After telling Seisame of his want to escape from his life for a short while, the older man had thought about it for a while, and decided to let the younger one stay for a few days more to sort out the emotions that clouded his heart._

_The third day after Naruto's arrival, he had suddenly spotted a framed picture in the entry hall of the temple. It was of a ninja wearing a headband that Naruto had never even saw in a textbook before standing on a small island and surrounded by sharks. In the sky was a cross, and the ninja seemed to be looking upwards at it, and praying._

_"Who's that?" Naruto had asked._

_The old man looked back at it and smiled._

_"That's a memory of a worst time." He said, gazing fondly at the framed picture. Was it a picture though? It looked intensely real, more like a photograph, yet Naruto knew nothing in real life could be like that. The ninja was grossly disporportionate with the rest of the picture, being way to big. "Would you like to hear about it?"_

_Naruto nodded. He loved stories._

_The old man smiled, and invited Naruto into another room. This one was nicely furnished, and there was a fire roaring in the fireplace. Seisame made himself comfortable in the large velvet chair, and Naruto settled for the cushions on the ground._

_Slowly, gently, the old man started telling the tale..._

_**The Wave was not always what it is today. Before there was civilization here on this island, before there was even a lot of ninjas, there were pirates. Bloodthirsty pirates that roamed the seven seas, looking for treasure to plunder and towns to loot. But there was one thing they all had in common, they all made their homes on the island of the Wave.**_

_**They were fearsome, and they were arrogant. They crushed the spirits of the people in the towns of the Wave with money and power, and killed anybody who dared disobey. They were demons, men without hearts. And the people desired freedom from them. They wanted somebody who could save them, get rid of the pirate plague that was infecting their beautiful land.**_

_**It was an age where shinobi were still little-known, where shinobi were nothing more than assassins hired only by the wealthy. It was an age where shinobi were without morals, demon-like in stature and demon-like in spirit.**_

_**Yet one day, a ninja appeared on a boat on a beach. He was recieved by the people poorly. The people thought he had been hired by the pirates to keep order on the island and keep the people from rising against their cruel and unjust rulers.**_

_**And so it came as a nasty yet pleasant shock when the first thing he did was to cut off the head of the local pirate boss. It soon spread all over the island.**_

_**A ninja who fought for right, who fought for good? Could there be such a thing? Many of the people wrote it off as nothing more than hopeful rumours, as it was something that was impossible. Shinobi were tied to the coin as much as mercenaries, and were bound by nothing more than their salaries.**_

_**They had no reason to save people.**_

_**But more and more people were convinced as pirate bosses fell dead all over the island, and the spirits and hopes of the people began to revive. Soon, there was left but one pirate boss, the pirate boss of all pirate bosses, the one that even the kingliest of pirates reported to.**_

_**His name was Admiral Gato.**_

_**The people's spirits were full of vigor, and they picked up their weapons, after being repressed for so long, and marched onwards to Gato's keep. They laid siege to the pirate's castle, day after day and night after night. When it seemed to be all lost, a miracle suddenly happened.**_

_**A pillar of light erupted from the ground, and shot up into the sky. The people, as far as they were into land, could hear the sounds of seagulls and waves crashing against the shore. They remembered what they were fighting for.**_

_**They fought for their lives, their futures, and their home.**_

_**They wouldn't fall.**_

_**And then he appeared. They called him the Holy Shark. He covered his face with a mask and a headband, and no one of the people knew who he was. He stepped forwards, and commanded the people. It was soon obvious that he was none other than the shinobi who had been aiding the people in their efforts all along to retrieve their land, and they welcomed him with open arms.**_

_**They marched upon Gato's keep once again, and this time they held strong. The barged through the front door, and into the pirate boss's sanctum. The Holy Shark walked upwards, and instantly killed Admiral Gato with a kunai to the throat.**_

_**And the people rejoiced.**_

_**In the midst of celebration, the shinobi vanished. There are those who say he disappeared into the woods, into the mountains, and there are those who say he went back to where he came from and became, if he wasn't already, a highly-respected shinobi.**_

_**But there was one thing the people was sure about, and that was he would always be respected as long as they made sure the legend was passed on, so that youngsters could grow up and aspire to become like this illusionary, wondrous man...**_

_"...and that's the end of that." The old man said, smiling._

_Naruto had drifted off in the middle of the story-telling, and was lying face down on the velvet cushion that he had been sitting on just a bit ago. Seisame smiled at the youngster on the bed, and carried him to his room to get some rest._

_This boy was interesting... Very interesting._

_---_

_"It's about time you go now, young man," said the old man as he watched the youngster whom he had gotten used to tie up his shoes and pack up a few things to take home to his father. "Now go back to your father instantly, and tell him sorry for making him wait and worry. If there's one thing that's important in this world, it's family bonds."_

_Naruto grinned as he jumped up happily._

_"No worries, ojisan!" said the energetic young blonde. Spending time in the presence of the happy old man had gotten him to smile as well. He had stripped away the mask that he wore around people he was unfamiliar with, and had became what he really was, a happy, young child. Too full of innocence to be dragged down by anything. "You take care now!"_

_They were standing on the porch in front of the temple. Naruto was still getting ready before leaving, and Seisame was watching his young friend pack up, before something suddenly hit him. Naruto looked at him strangely as he hurried inside, and retrieved something from a shelf in the entrace hallway._

_He passed it to Naruto, and the blonde fox-boy stared at it wondrously. It was a beautiful white kunai._

_"Oh, thanks, ojisan!" The young boy cried happily. "I finally get a kunai I can use!"_

_"Now, now. This kunai's very special. It's not a weapon, but a promise of protection," said the old man warmly. "You don't need it, since you're strong enough yourself, but one day you'll come across a person who needs help. A person who needs help protecting those that he cares about. And when you find that person, give this to them."_

_Naruto looked at the old man strangely._

_"Really? But what's that gonna do?"_

_"They'll recieve the power to defend, boy!" The old man said. "The power of protection is stronger than any other force alive on this earth... Except perhaps exluding 'love'. But only give this to somebody who seems really serious about it, somebody who can't get the strength by themselves."_

_Naruto looked at the white kunai, and back at the old man._

_"Alright... I don't really get it, but I'll do that!" He said, grinning. "Bye bye, ojisan!"_

_And with that, he ran down the stairs to the temple, grinning madly all the way and waving goodbye to the old man who had taken him the entire week that he had spent inside the temple. Seisame waved back heartily, smiling as well. As the blonde fox-boy passed out of view, the old man suddenly seemed to age._

_"Thank you for releasing me, boy... I know the Wave will be safe now."_

_And with one last laugh, the old man seemed to vanish into thin air._

_The temple too, broke off into little pieces, and started drifting off into the sky. Within seconds, there was nothing left in the clearing except a large boulder standing in the middle, with a little inscription on it._

**Holy Shark.**

**May your soul forever**

**guide us, and may**

**your flesh forever**

**protect us.**

**Otenka Seisame**

**Protector**

_---_

_**...But there was one thing that the people didn't know. **_

_**In their midst he left a son, a remainder of his bloodline. A son whose power would awake once confronted with a white key.**_

_**It would be his blood that would help protect the Wave again, if anything ever happened that these bloodthirsty pirates revive and try to take over again. And thus the people of the Wave could live in peace.**_

_**One day however, their peaceful sanctity would be compromised. More men of greed would come, and try to dominate the beautiful island that was their paradise. But the people of the Wave need not worry.**_

_**For then the Holy Shark... would revive again.**_


End file.
